TOKYO (AP) — Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands claimed a dramatic gold medal in the women’s shot put on her final attempt at the world championships on Saturday.
Schilder threw 20.29 meters in a grueling event made more taxing with preliminaries and finals on the same day.
Chase Jackson of the U.S. took silver (20.21), also on her final throw. Both of them edged Maddison-Lee Wesche of New Zealand (20.06), who finished with bronze and held the lead until the sixth and final round.
Schilder’s first gold at the worlds or Olympics made up for an exhausting day.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I can’t describe the feeling. I thought if I really wanted it, I can do it. And that is the only thought I had.”
More rest needed
Schilder and Jackson chided organizers and World Athletics for squeezing shot put into one day.
They said it was typical that shot put — which will not be featured in next year’s big-money World Ultimate Challenge — was being deprived of the space it needs.
“We really don’t have time to recover, or not as much as we would if we had a day off,” Schilder said. “There wuld be better throws if there were a little more time between.”
Jackson, the two-time defending world champion, said she woke up at 4 a.m. Saturday to prepare for the prelims at 10 a.m. The evening final began just before 8 p.m.
Jackson said she “cried tears of joy” by simply surviving and eventually landing a medal of any color.
“You had a bunch of people waking up a 4 o’clock in the morning,” she said. “I did what I can do. That was really hard, being up really early and just riding it out.
“The results for shot put are never good because it’s hell. I was just kind of fighting for my life out there. I’ve never felt more 31 (years old) than I have today. Right now my back is killing me.”
Change needed
Jackson said someone needs to lobby officials at World Athletics to make a change. The men’s shot put was also held in one day.
She said the event must look easy from the outside, making it a target to be squeezed in whenever and wherever. But there’s nothing easy about throwing that eight kilogram (4.4 pound) shot even once, let alone nine times in a day, as they did Saturday.
“There is a misconception,” Jackson said. “It looks like we’re not throwing far. We just take this little space, so it’s easy to have us throw on the same day. It’s kind of hard. That’s why the results this week for the shot put aren’t what they’ve been all season.”
Jackson said part of the problem was that despite cramming the shot put into one day, the performances were still respectable.
“It’s not like today was terrible, but there could have been some crazy throwing today had you not had a bunch of people waking up a 4 a,m.”
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AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press
