Mitton inspired to showcase strength of women's shot put

Sarah Mitton is among a group of shot put stars who are launching the women’s event into a new era.

Four women have already surpassed 20 metres in the event in 2025, led by Dutch record-holder Jessica Schilder with 20.69m and Canada’s Mitton with her North American indoor record of 20.68m. Germany’s Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye has thrown a PB of 20.27m, while USA’s two-time world champion Chase Jackson has improved the US indoor record to 20.24m.

Mitton, Schilder and Jackson all clash at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25, where they will have the chance to further showcase the strength of their discipline when the final takes place on Friday (21).

“My coach and I talk a lot about how things are progressing – not just for myself, but for shot put in general,” says Mitton, who lines up in Nanjing as the defending champion having won with a 20.22m throw in Glasgow last year.

“It has been interesting because the women have only been rotating in the shot put for a shorter period of time than the men. In 2019 we saw the men take a huge leap forward into the 22 and 23 metres, and I feel like the women are on a similar path now. 

“There are a few of us who have been rotating for a number of years and are really starting to get the hang of it. Now, instead of there being more gliders than rotators, there’s more rotators, so it has been really exciting. For us girls who are at the top, we’re always trying to find ways to continue to push it further.”

Mitton teamed up with her current coach Richard Parkinson and his Toronto-based group in 2017. Under his guidance she switched from the glide to the rotational technique and more recently she has further developed her start, which she believes has helped her to produce bigger throws already this year.

“I started doing a different entry for my throw this year, similar to what some of the men are doing, and I believe I am the first woman to do it,” she explains. “I’ve thrown 20.68m and I’m really excited about the direction it could go, but I’ve only been doing it for about five months so I think there’s still some learning opportunity there. I think it’s really neat that once you’re at the top you still have to find new ways to innovate and try to throw further.

“From the day that I met him (coach Parkinson), he has always joked that I was going to be able to throw 20 metres. I don’t know exactly what he saw, but it has really been neat to see it come to fruition because seven years ago I was like, that’s crazy – 20 metres! The only women that I had seen doing that were Valerie Adams and Gong (Lijiao), and they were so strong and powerful. Now it’s really neat to see the shot put grow, but it’s even cooler to be a part of it.”

Sharing insight into the change to her start, she adds: “To someone who isn’t really a shot put nerd like some of us, it’s maybe not even that noticeable. It’s very subtle. 

“Usually in a rotational shot put you would stand perpendicular to the toe board, so you would be facing that direction with both feet parallel, evenly spread. We have taken it almost a full step with our right foot back into the circle, so the opposite direction of what we would turn, so what it’s doing is it’s giving us a bit longer of a shot pathway to create some acceleration and some angular momentum going into the centre. 

“We’ve seen Tom Walsh and the two Italian men do it successfully and they have been throwing really well. Basically, you are driving force. It sends you with a lot more speed and power that you can then transfer into the shot put on the finish.

“I am really excited about where it could take me and hopefully I can become the first woman to throw 21 metres in a long time.”

Having first surpassed 20 metres in 2022, Mitton and her coach knew it was the right time to take the next step.

“The first time I tried it (the new start technique) was before Budapest (World Championships) in 2023, in the spring,” she says. “It was right around the time when Ryan Crouser said he was going to do the slide, and it was like a whole new world when he said he was going to do that. Usually everyone does something very similar and so we were playing around with it. We started looking into what that would look like for me, and I don’t think there’s any advantage – I’m 5ft 6, I’m not the biggest shot putter out there, so for me it’s more about speed and power. 

“We played with it for a month or two and we just ran out of time because we were headed towards Budapest and it wasn’t quite as consistent as we were hoping for going into a World Championships. 

“Now is the time – I’ve thrown 20 metres, I’ve been able to be consistently in the top two or three at most of the meets, so now we’re trying to find a way to be able to push the barrier even further.”

In that sense, the 28-year-old relishes the chance to be a role model.

“I used to – and still do – look up to so many other track and field athletes, throwers especially, but now being in those shoes and as we see the women’s shot put get better, we are also seeing the glide not being the most popular technique. 

“I think part of what it is doing is allowing me to show younger girls that you don’t have to be so big – you can be fast. And not just me, of course, but the other girls as well – we have been able to show that being strong is really cool and being able to throw a shot 20 metres is pretty cool. 

“The new start thing is a very small demographic of influence, but that would be really neat if we see some other women start trying that or some younger athletes. But I think just overall, being that role model for those girls who maybe thought they could never do it, like I did, is really special.”

Also special, and rather unique, is the opportunity for her to try and become a two-time world indoor champion just 12 months on from winning the title for the first time in Glasgow.

“It has been awesome to have the World Indoor Championships back-to-back,” she says. “Headed into Glasgow last year, I knew that I was a contender and that I had been in really good shape, but I had never won a global title or stepped into that mentality. It was such an awesome feeling and one of those times where just all the work comes together. Even though maybe on the day, I just was the best athlete, it’s pretty surreal when I think back now. 

“So, I’m really looking forward to Nanjing and being able to go out there and compete and attempt, on the day, to be the best. I think it would be the icing on the cake to be able to redo it and win back-to-back.”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics