Valerie Adams - Istanbul 2012
IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul – 10 March 2012
Valerie Adams won the World Indoor championships shot put with a personal best indoor performance and national record of 20.54 metres.
Adams took the lead in the second round with a throw of 20.48 metres, and held it throughout the competition, unleashing the best of 20.54 metres in the final round of the competition. Arch rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk from Belarus finished second with 20.42m with Michelle Carter of USA in third on 19.58 metres.
The win completes Adams set of current world titles. She now holds the current Olympic, World championship and World Indoor Championship titles as well as being the current Commonwealth, Continental Cup and Diamond League champion. She is now unbeaten since August 2010 and leads 16 – 15 in head to head clashes with her nemesis, Ostapchuk.
It was a fierce battle with Ostapchuk coming back into contention in round five.
“The competition is not over till it is over; she took a raise in the fifth round where she came back with 20.42m but it wasn’t enough to take the win. I’m happy to finish off on my best throw on the sixth round 20.54m,” said Adams.
“I knew that I had won, but I sort of fought to the very end,” said Adams who added 3cm to her national indoor record set in Zurich in September.
“This is just the journey towards London, obviously the big goal there is to defend my title, but I’ve got a lot of hard work to do between now and then. At this stage to walk away with the win and an area record as well, I’m really happy with that,” she said.
The 27 year old was delighted to take back the title she lost to Ostapchuk two years ago in Doha Qatar.
“The mind games have already started now, this is the first competition of the year where I see everybody and obviously with Olympics on the horizon you have to perform well and make sure that you put pressure on the other throwers and make sure that you win all the meets leading into London.”
Her win in Istanbul also marked an important milestone for Adams under her coach Jean-Pierre Egger.
“This is our first world title with him being at the venue, that’s really important to me,” she said.
Adams will now take a short break before returning to her training base in Switzerland, where she will train for the next two months.
Her next competition is at the Diamond League event in Rome in May followed by further League meetings in New York in June and London in July before the Olympic Games shot put on 6 August.
Speak Your Mind