Athletics: Tom Walsh back in action at Diamond League

Tom Walsh. Photo / Photosport.

Newly crowned world shot put champion Tom Walsh will square off with a pair of vengeance-seeking Americans at the season-ending Diamond League meeting in Brussels on Friday (NZT).

Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs were both beaten by Walsh at the world championships in London earlier this month, despite previously dominating the world rankings.

Olympic champion Crouser held seven of the season's 10 best throws, his leading effort of 22.65m coming in June, while Kovacs was ranked second on 22.57m

Walsh, the Olympic bronze medallist, was ninth on the list with a best-ranked effort of 22.14m.

Yet it was Walsh who won world championship gold in London with a best throw of 22.03m ahead of second-placed Kovacs (21.66m) and bronze medallist Stipe Zunic of Croatia (21.46m).

In Brussels on Friday, 25-year-old Walsh will line up against the top eight throwers from the Diamond League standings, with US$50,000 ($69,400) at stake for the winner.

Crouser heads the Diamond League standings on 31 points, with Walsh second on 22.

Walsh has sharpened up for the northern season finale with a 21.50m win at the World Challenge meet in Croatia on Tuesday (NZT), 15cm better than runner-up Damien Birkinhead of Australia.

The Zagreb meeting, while missing Crouser, included Kovacs (20.85m) and Zunic (20.66m), who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Walsh's victory backed up his win a week earlier at the Diamond League meet in Birmingham, where his winning 21.83m topped second-placed Crouser's 21.55m.

The Timaru builder will be defending his Diamond League title, which he took last year under the now-defunct points system.

He'll also be keen to shake off the groin strain which has plagued him since just before the world championships, and better his all-time best of 22.21m set almost exactly a year ago in Zagreb.

- NZN