NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Athletics

Athletics: Shot putter Tom Walsh still searching for balance of power, technique

NZ Herald
14 Jul, 2017 01:58 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Kiwi Tom Walsh competes in the shot put during the IAAF World Challenge at Melbourne. Photo/Photosport

Kiwi Tom Walsh competes in the shot put during the IAAF World Challenge at Melbourne. Photo/Photosport

By Grant Chapman

As his rivals punch out big numbers in the gym, Kiwi shot exponent Tom Walsh is trying to navigate a path less travelled towards next month's world championships and beyond.

His most recent outing - a second-placed season best of 21.97m at last week's Lausanne Diamond League meeting - suggests he's well on target for a podium finish at the event where he finished fourth two years ago.

"It was a great series," reflects Walsh, from his training base in Athens, Georgia. "The only thing missing was the big one ... I thought I had a touch more in there."

In a discipline where the strongest man often wins, the defending Diamond League champion is desperately seeking a way to break the dominance of American Ryan Crouser, without locking himself in the weightroom.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Walsh, 25, has just completed a heavy two-week lifting block designed to keep his strength up for the next few weeks of his European campaign, particular the championships in London.

But while his performances in the gym would make most of us look like nine-stone weaklings, he seems almost embarrassed to compare them with those of his rivals.
And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"I think too many people get caught up with what you can bench and what you can squat," he insists. "I'm not that type of guy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Some of the numbers some guys put out there, they're pretty daunting. You just think 'shit, that guy's strong'.

"The question is how much does the extra strength add? I can get a lot stronger, there's no doubt about that, but it's a fine line between turning into a grunt thrower, which I'm not and which would be detrimental to me, or staying as a rhythm and timing thrower, which I am."

That's the balancing act for Walsh - strength v technique. What he may currently lack in raw power, he more than makes up for in the efficiency it is applied.

For the record, his bench press during this latest block maxed out at two reps of 205kg, His power cleans hovered around 150-160kg.

Discover more

Athletics

McCartney on mend, despite London withdrawal

09 Jul 04:38 AM
Athletics

Willis falls short of qualifying mark

09 Jul 09:36 PM
Athletics

Robertson's incredible journey through Kenya

09 Jul 10:00 PM
Athletics

Runner falls at 399m of 400m race

13 Jul 08:53 AM

""That's good for me, but not as good as some of the guys I throw against. I was touching on the numbers that I need to get benefit out of that block."

Walsh's key performance indicators aren't engraved on lumps of iron - they're found out on the throwing sector.

"When I'm throwing far in training, I'll throw far in a competition," he says. "Depending on what I'm doing in the gym, that usually takes some fuel out of the tank and during that heavy block, I don't throw as far.

"But I still threw further than during the same heavy block last year. For me, that means I'm improving.

"If I can keep those distances up during a heavy block, when I freshen up, I'll have more top side."

That's why Walsh is happy to retire to his own corner of the world between competitions, away from his opponents and their own agendas.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He's fallen into that trap in the past, when he was still struggling to emerge from the shadow of fellow Kiwi Jacko Gill.

"Everyone was saying he's going to be good and he's going to be our guy, and I was so worried about how his training was going, I forgot to concentrate on myself.

"That was a worthwhile lesson back then."

Walsh and Gill have taken very different career paths. Gill, now 22, was a teenage phenomenon, setting world records for every age group along the way and posting stupendous training videos online that quickly went viral.

Walsh has been more of a slow burn, switching from cricket to athletics late and taking a more methodical approach to his success.

"Two guys in New Zealand and we're completely different," observes Walsh. "Jacko trained like an absolute demon, like a professional athlete, for years.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It worked for him and still is working for him to this day. His numbers are crazy compared to mine, but right now, I'm throwing further and more consistently.

"Who's to say what way is right? I just know that, for me, it works when I don't get too worried about the numbers, and focus on how my throwing is going and how far in training."

After losing to Crouser, 24, at Lausanne, Walsh wondered aloud how he could find a way to beat his great friend and rival.

The Olympic champion had already beaten him twice over the New Zealand summer and again at the Diamond League opener in Oregon.

"I look at it this way, Ryan's training maturity is probably a year in front of me," says Walsh. "We're the same age, but I think he's done a bit more training than I have, because I didn't start lifting until I was 18.

"Good things take time. Give me another year or so, and we'll be right at each other all the time.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We're not too far off at the moment. He's just doing enough to beat me at every comp, which is frustrating, but at the end of the day, you can't get too caught up in that stuff.
"You've got to play your own game."

Meanwhile, on this side of the world, Walsh has just embarked on another milestone project - his own home.

"Most people realise I'm still a builder, even though the guys on the workplace would disagree," he chuckles.

Pretty excited to have my Sponsor/Employer with Mike Greer Homes start our house today. May even hit in some nails myself 🔨🔨 pic.twitter.com/Jp7sLwnrAo

— Tom Walsh (@TomWalshSP) July 11, 2017

"So I've been talking to my employer [Mike Greer Homes] about the right time to get a house. I'm pretty excited that kicked off this week and I'll be living there for six months of the year, while I'm in New Zealand.

"We've gone through a process of how big do we want it, how many rooms, what colour ... stuff like that. Even though I am a builder, I keep forgetting how much goes into it."

The venture, located in the Christchurch suburb of Prestons Park, is very much a joint effort with partner Dana Mulcahy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"She picked all the colours and the furniture," says Walsh. "I just have to keep an eye on the price."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Athletics

Athletics

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

16 Jun 06:53 PM
Athletics

Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

07 Jun 02:11 AM
Athletics

Former surf lifesaving world champ banned in doping case

23 May 02:49 AM

How one volunteer makes people feel seen

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Athletics

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

16 Jun 06:53 PM

Jakob Ingebrigtsen referred to his father as 'the accused' throughout the trial.

Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

07 Jun 02:11 AM
Former surf lifesaving world champ banned in doping case

Former surf lifesaving world champ banned in doping case

23 May 02:49 AM
7000 tackle Rotorua Marathon

7000 tackle Rotorua Marathon

03 May 05:00 AM
Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka
sponsored

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search