Tom Walsh has finished second at his first Diamond League meeting of the season in China on Saturday night.
Walsh held the early lead in the Shanghai competition with a first round 20.79m but was pushed back to second by American World Champion Joe Kovacs in the second round with20.82m, and then was bumped further down into third in the sixth and final round when fellow American Kurt Roberts unleashed a 21.40m throw to grab the lead.
But the Kiwi came back with a big toss of 21.20m on his final attempt, grabbing second place, while Kovacs could not respond.
The world-class field included Kovacs, who is the 2016 world outdoor leader with 21.47m, double Olympic gold medallist Tomas Majewski, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world championship bronze medallist O'Dayne Richards (Jamaica) and former world indoor champion Ryan Whiting (US).
Walsh sits in second place in the Diamond League Shot Put and will next compete in the Prefontaine Classic leg of the Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon on 27 May.
Result: 1 Kurt Roberts (USA) 21.40 2 Tom Walsh (NZL) 21.20 3 Joe Kovacs (USA) 20.82 4 Tomasz Majewski (POL) 20.76 5 Tim Nedow (CAN) 20.40 6 Jordan Clarke (USA) 20.30
