Kiwi shot-putter Tom Walsh has extended his medal run at the world indoor athletics championships, claiming silver at the latest edition at Glasgow.
Walsh, 32 today, tossed 22.07m with his opening attempt to claim a short-lived lead, but quickly fell behind American world recordholder Ryan Crouser, who had the three furtherest throws of the competition, including a championship record of 22.77m in the fifth round.
By contrast, the Kiwi could not improve on his first effort, with a fourth-round 22.03m his next-best toss, finishing clear of Italian Leonardo Fabbri (21.96m) in third. Countryman Jacko Gill recorded 21.69m for fifth.
The result means the two-time gold-medallist has placed on the podium at each of the championships held over the past decade. His victories came at Portland 2016 and Birmingham 2018, with bronze at Sopot 2014 and Belgrade 2022.
The 2020 meet, scheduled for Nanjing, China, was cancelled, due to COVID-19.
"Definitely wanted a birthday present," Walsh told Newshub. "This wasn't quite the one I wanted, but still happy.
"I gave myself a chance today, a really good chance to throw a long way, and didn't quite nail the timing, but we'll save it for later in the year.
"I've had a really good early season over here, with a bunch of throws over 22 metres, which is the mark you have to be around to even have a chance. I'm really happy with it, but didn't quite get it right tonight, which is why you do this sport.
"It'll keep."
Meanwhile, Kiwis Maia Ramsden and Geordie Beamish have both qualified for their respective 1500 metres finals, finishing among the fastest qualifiers from their heats.
Ramsden, the US college champion outdoors, hacked two seconds off her previous best, setting a national indoor record of 4m 06.51s for third in the fastest women's heat of the day. American Nikki Hiltz was quickest with 4m 04.34s.
"I'm really lucky to have the chance to race indoors a lot at uni," Ramsden told Newshub. "I just know, in these indoor races, you don't want to waste a lot of energy up front.
"With 500 to go was the queue from my coach to start paying attention to where I was in the race. With 300 to go, I knew, because I really trust my kick and some of the others were doing a lot of work up front."
Beamish, who has set national records over 5000 metres and 3000m steeplechase over the past 12 months, has taken that form into the shorter distance, recording 3m 39.17s and also finishing third in the fastest men's heat. Kenyan Vincent Keter led the field through with 3m 38.96s.
The 1500m finals will be last events contested at the championships on Monday morning (NZ time).
