• Roger Steen and Jordan Geist hope to translate World Indoor Tour form into global glory
• Double world medallist Leonardo Fabbri seeks first global gold
• Tom Walsh seeks record-breaking seventh world indoor medal

If the World Indoor Tour is anything to go by, the men’s shot put could be one of the most competitive disciplines of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26.

The six shot put contests on the tour were won by five different men. Three of those – Jordan Geist, Roger Steen and Leonardo Fabbri – will be in Toruń, but they’ll be up against defending champion and three-time winner Tom Walsh.

Geist is the only shot putter to win at two World Indoor Tour Gold meetings this year, throwing 22.04m in Madrid and Ostrava. He went on to win the overall tour title, and a wild card entry to the World Indoors, allowing the US to field three athletes.

Steen won in Belgrade in 22.07m – the longest indoor throw in the world this year – and then beat Geist to the US indoor title, 21.81m to 21.72m. 2022 world bronze medallist Josh Awotunde earned the third spot on the US team, forming a formidable trio.

Fabbri, world silver medallist in 2023 and bronze medallist last year, started his year in tremendous form with an outdoor throw of 22.50m in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He followed it with victories in Lievin, Nehvizdy and at the Italian Indoor Championships, throwing 21.80m or farther on each occasion.

Tom Walsh returns to the country where his streak of world indoor medals began 12 years ago. The New Zealander has won three world indoor titles (2016, 2018 and 2025) and has his sights set on his seventh World Indoor Championships medal, which would be a record for a male athlete.

The 2017 world champion and two-time Olympic bronze medallist heads back to Poland with a season’s best of 21.10m, set outdoors at the New Zealand Championships.

World record-holder and multiple global champion Ryan Crouser will be the only athlete missing from last year’s World Championships top five. Mexico’s Uziel Munoz, Fabbri, Walsh, and Nigeria’s Chuck Enekwechi will all be in Toruń.

Piotrek Przyborowski for World Athletics

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