Tom Walsh has put together an impressive resume of success over the past eight years. Photo / Photosport
Tom Walsh has put together an impressive resume of success over the past eight years. Photo / Photosport
By Kris Shannon in Birmingham
Tom Walsh believes compatriot Jacko Gill can cause an upset in the shot put final in Birmingham - with one important caveat.
"If I don't have a good day and he has a good day, he can beat me," the gold-medal favourite said of histeammate.
But? "But if I have a good day, I'm untouchable."
Walsh's confidence is well earned. The defending champion heads into Saturday morning's final at Alexander Stadium with a personal-best throw almost a metre longer than any of the other 10 men in the field.
The 30-year-old might have been squeezed off the podium at last month's world championships in Oregon - as the pair of Americans with whom Walsh has long battled turned into a trio - but he was still by far the best of the Commonwealth athletes.
Gill, seventh in Oregon, was next with a distance of 21.40m, well down on Walsh's effort of 22.08m, which was in turn significantly short of his personal best of 22.90m.
Essentially, Walsh was right: it would take a very bad day for him to conclude the final anywhere other than the top step of the podium, with Nigerian Chukwuebuka Enekwechi the other main contender.
But Walsh won't struggle for motivation in the absence of Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs, the Americans who beat him at last year's Tokyo Olympics, or their compatriot Josh Awotunde, who surprisingly edged the Kiwi for bronze in Oregon.
"The Americans keep me on my toes, for sure. There's no doubt about that," Walsh said.
"But I didn't go as well as I wanted to at the world champs, and so I've got a bit of a rocket up my arse to prove to myself and prove to everyone else that I've still got what it takes to throw a long way and be one of the guys.
"I didn't throw as well as what I should have, but this is another chance to prove that, and I definitely will get excited enough to make that shot put fly out there."
Walsh certainly did that on the Gold Coast, marking himself as the man to beat with a Games-record distance of 22.45m in qualifying. He was unable to replicate those feats in the final but nor was that required, making three no-throws while recording a best distance of 21.41m, good enough to take gold by 27cm ahead of Enekwechi.
Tom Walsh with his gold on the Gold Coast. Photo / Photosport
That gold, along with a silver in 2014 and a pair of bronze medals at the Olympics, made Walsh an obvious choice when New Zealand Chef de Mission Nigel Avery was selecting his flagbearers for the opening ceremony in Birmingham.
And having proudly carried the Kiwi flag alongside Joelle King at Alexander Stadium last week, Walsh will return to the venue with added incentive to make it back-to-back triumphs.
"It adds to it in a nice way," he said of the honour. "It's a nice privilege to have the flag and you kind of feel like you should perform well with it. But it's not necessarily a burden - it's a positive.
"It's not something we do the sport for, and it's not something that you think will mean a lot - until it does happen and it's a huge honour. It's something that not many people get to do."
