Walsh aims to maintain a decade of world indoor medals in Glasgow

A decade on from the first of his four world indoor medal wins, Tom Walsh wanted to try something new.

The World Indoor Championships in Sopot in 2014 proved to be a breakthrough for the then 22-year-old Walsh, who threw an Oceanian record of 21.26m to get shot put bronze behind Ryan Whiting and David Storl. Gold followed in Portland two years later and Walsh retained that title in Birmingham in 2018 before adding another bronze to his haul in Belgrade in 2022.

Prior to the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava on 30 January, those four global events had been the only competitions Walsh had ever contested indoors – with great success. On the hunt for a fifth consecutive world indoor medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24, he opted take a different route.

Five meetings later, that decision paid off as not only is Walsh evidently in form but he also now has another indoor title on his CV – that of 2024 World Athletics Indoor Tour champion.

“I’ve been on tour now for 10 or 11 years and I don’t get to do much new stuff,” he said in Ostrava. “I’ve always wanted to do the indoor circuit and previously things haven’t lined up for it.

“I’ve always really enjoyed World Indoor Championships – they have obviously been very good to me. So, I just wanted to try something new. The big thing is the depth of competition and challenging myself against the best guys in the world as much as I can.”

After his season opener in Ostrava, Walsh competed in Lievin, Belgrade, Nehvizdy and Madrid. His season’s best of 22.16m places him joint third on this year’s world top list and his consistency was rewarded with that World Indoor Tour title.

And following confirmation of his overall title win in Madrid, Walsh explained how he still has “a lot of gas in the tank” for Glasgow, where on Friday (1) he will go up against a field including world record-holder Ryan Crouser and world silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri.

A decade at the top

Walsh has been one of the leading figures in the dramatic development of the men’s shot put during the past 10 years.

In 2014, when Walsh won his first world indoor medal, Whiting’s 22.23m from the US Indoor Championships was the world lead, the world record of 23.12m remained with Randy Barnes and two athletes that year surpassed 22 metres. In 2018, a year topped by Walsh’s 22.67m in Auckland, seven athletes threw beyond 22 metres. In 2023 that figure was 11, led by Crouser’s world record of 23.56m.

The depth has resulted in some epic clashes, including at the 2019 World Championships final in Doha where USA’s Joe Kovacs threw 22.91m and both Crouser and Walsh threw 22.90m – a mark that remains Walsh’s PB.

So, from Walsh’s perspective, what has changed over the past decade?

“Well, I’ve put on about 15kg and I’m 10 years older!” he laughs, adding: “When I first came out, in 2013 or 2014, you could win meets with 21 metres, like low 21s. I actually remember I won the Zagreb World Challenge – the first ever big international win for me – with 20.69m and Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell, Ryan Whiting, Tomasz Majewski – all the guys of the time – were there. So that’s what’s changed. Now you can throw 22-mid and get second, third, fourth, fifth.

“The depth is there, too. I think we had 11 guys last year who threw 22 metres, so that’s just insane.”

But as his area of the sport has skyrocketed, Walsh says one part has not kept pace.

“The performances have gone up dramatically and the depth has gone up, but I think one thing that has definitely dropped off is sponsorship,” he says. “I think the only two guys who are sponsored (by an apparel brand) in the men’s shot put are Ryan and Joe, and they both deserve it, absolutely, but the rest of the guys aren’t, and I’m included in that.

“I think that’s a shame, for shot put and also for our sport. Maybe as athletes we can do better at selling our story so that more people are interested in it. As athletes, too, we’ve got to do our part to do what we can with social media and videos and things like that – telling our story about what we’re going through, how training has been, and all those things. It’s a two-way street.”

Walsh is active on social media and happily shares insight into his training. Coaching and mentoring is something he can see himself doing in future, too.

“I’m pretty open around helping out people,” he says. “My mother tells me I tell people too much! But I just think, well, I can tell them as much as they want but they don’t necessarily know how it works for them or works for me. Like, I can tell them how many reps and sets I do in the gym or what days I throw, or what days I lift, but they don’t necessarily know why I do that. 

“I’m more than happy to try and help people, mentor people and point people in the right direction and probably inform them about mistakes I have made – because I have made plenty!”

A different kind of putting

Right now, Walsh’s focus remains on his own performances and the chance to further extend his record streak of men’s world indoor shot put medals in Glasgow.

“To win World Indoors this year, you’ll have to throw a long way,” says Walsh, who also has the opportunity to add to his two Olympic bronze medals in Paris in August.

“If you can perform well at major championships, it’s another good builder for later in the year knowing that what you’ve been doing lately has been working.”

Winning a medal is not his only ambition for Glasgow, however.

“In 2014, the Commonwealth Games were in Glasgow as well,” he reminisces. “I remember that I got second to O’Dayne Richards, which I was a bit annoyed at the time about! 

“I love Scotland. Actually, after the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Hamish Kerr – the New Zealand high jumper – and I went and played golf around Scotland a few times. We’re keen golfers and obviously, Scotland loves golf.

“We have two free days (after the World Indoor Championships) so we’re just trying to sort out something somewhere around Glasgow, so if anyone knows of anything, let me know!”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics