Fifteen months since her last competition &ndash; and 14 months since undergoing knee surgery &ndash; 2015 world champion Christina Schwanitz returned to the shot put ring in Chemnitz on Sunday (24) and unleashed a 19.11m winning effort.
The 35-year-old German, who hadn&rsquo;t competed since taking bronze at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, opened her series with a foul and followed it with an 18.00m heave. Katharina Maisch held a slender lead with her 18.04m lifetime best in round one, but Schwanitz surpassed that with her fourth-round throw of 18.79m.
In the final round, Sara Gambetta moved into second place with 18.18m before Schwanitz released her winning throw of 19.11m. Maisch responded with another PB, this time 18.12m, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough to move out of third place.
&ldquo;I really can&rsquo;t complain about 19.11m after such a long time without competition,&rdquo; said Schwanitz, the two-time European champion.
<h2>Martinot-Lagarde and Zango victorious in Miramas</h2>
 Pascal Martinot-Lagarde opened his 2021 season with a 7.54 60m hurdles victory to highlight the Meeting Elite de Miramas in Miramas, France, on Friday (22).
Martinot-Lagarde, the European 110m hurdles champion, worked out the rust with a 7.64 clocking in the heats before his 7.54 world leader in the final, to register his quickest season's debut since 2017. Wilhem Belocian was second in 7.57, also his quickest season's opener and the fourth-fastest time of his career.
Hugues Fabrice Zango, who electrified the early season with a stunning 18.07m world indoor triple jump record in Aubi&egrave;re one week ago, followed up with another victory, reaching 17.05m in the final round. The 27-year-old produced just two measured jumps, the other a 16.98m effort from round two.
Carolle Zahi of France and Hassan Taftian of Iran won the women's and men's 60m, clocking 7.19 and 6.68 respectively. Alice Finot won the women's 3000m in a 9:02.63 PB, ahead of Frenchwoman Sara Benfares who clocked 9:04.94, a national U23 indoor record. 
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In Prague on Saturday, world indoor bronze medallist Tomas Stanek won the shot put with 21.48m and three-time world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak got his season under way with a 21.02 clocking over 200m.
Germany&rsquo;s Tatjana Pinto won the 60m in Leverkusen on Saturday in 7.18, her fastest time for three years, while over on the other side of the country in Chemnitz, Rebekka Haase recorded a 7.26 and 23.09 60m/200m sprint double and Corinna Schwab recorded an indoor PB of 52.27 to win the 400m.
<h2>Boling clocks 45.51 in Columbia</h2>
 One week after recording a 60m PB of 6.64, multi-talented Matthew Boling jumped to the top of the world list for 400m with his 45.51 run at the Carolina Challenge in Columbia on Saturday (23).
The 20-year-old hit the headlines in 2019 when he ran a wind-assisted 9.98 for 100m, leapt 8.01m for the long jump and went on to win four gold medals at the Pan-American U20 Championships.
He won the 400m with ease in Columbia as Champion Allison finished second in 46.23 and Leander Forbes clocked 46.41 in third place.
Tamara Clark also produced a world-leading run in Columbia, clocking 22.90 in the 200m. The 22-year-old also won the 60m in 7.28.
Commonwealth triple jump bronze medallist Thea Lafond uncorked the jump of her life at the Liberty Elite Invitational in Lynchburg on Saturday. The 26-year-old flew out to a world-leading 14.52m to smash her own outright national record. Elsewhere in Lynchburg, Scott Houston won the pole vault with 5.75m, his best vault since taking the 2018 US indoor title.
There were even bigger clearances from Chris Nilsen and KC Lightfoot on Saturday. Nilsen scaled 5.90m in Vermillion, while Lightfoot cleared the same height to win at the Aggie Invitational in College Station. At the same meeting, Athing Mu broke the collegiate indoor record over 600m, stopping the clock at 1:25.80.
Adrian Piperi won the shot put with a 21.12m toss to highlight the Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, USA, on Friday (22).
Piperi, the 2015 world U18 champion and twice a medallist at the World U20 Championships, improved his indoor best to 21.07m in the fourth round before his 21.12m effort in the fifth round, adding one centimetre to his absolute career best he set last June. Piperi is the second man to throw beyond 21 metres this season and sits second on the world list behind Olympic champion Ryan Crouser who threw 22.58m in December.
Elsewhere on the Randal Tyson Center track, which will host the inaugural American Track League meeting and World Athletics Indoor Tour opener on Sunday, Tara Davis, the 2015 world U18 champion in the long jump, won her event with a 6.56m leap in her second competition of the season. Swede Lisa Gunnarsson, who competes for Louisiana State University, won the pole vault with a 4.50m clearance.&nbsp;
On the track, Twanisha Terry, another age group standout earlier in her career, won the 60m in 7.14, equalling her personal best. Abby Steiner was second in 7.22. And Kenyan Amon Kemboi, who competes for the University of Arkansas, won the mile in 3:58.26, the 117th sub-four at the Tyson Center venue.
<h2>Walsh and Adams notch shot put wins in Hastings</h2>
 Shot put stars Tom Walsh and Valerie Adams opened their 2021 campaigns with victories at the Potts Classic in Hastings, New Zealand, on Saturday (23).
Walsh, the world bronze medallist, opened with a 20.08m effort, improved to 20.71m in the second and topped out with a 20.78m throw in the fifth.
Adams meanwhile reached 18.34m with her first throw, her farthest of the day. She produced an 18.11m effort in the fifth round, her only other toss beyond the 18-metre line. World U20 champion Maddison-Lee Wesche was second with 18.08m. It's the first time two Kiwi women have thrown beyond 18 metres in the same shot put competition.
The meeting also hosted the national 3000m championships. Samuel Tanner took the men's title in 7:54.16 and Kara MacDermid the women's, clocking 9:44.27.
Bob Ramsak and Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Martinot-Lagarde debuts with 7.54, Zango leaps 17.05m in Miramas, Walsh and Adams notch shot put wins in Hastings,

Schwanitz returns with 19.11m in Chemnitz, Boling clocks 45.51 in Columbia

Martinot-Lagarde debuts with 7.54 in Miramas, Walsh and Adams notch shot put wins in Hastings

Sprinter Matthew Boling confirmed his status as a rising star of the sport as he led the USA to two world U20 relay records* while the US 4x400m women added one more to provide a sensational finale to the 20th Pan American U20 Championships, held at San Jose&rsquo;s National Stadium in Costa Rica on 19-21 July.
After becoming the first man in 20 years to win the 100m and 200m sprint double at the championships with personal bests of 10.11 and 20.31, the 19-year old anchored the USA squad to world U20 records in the 4x100m and 4x400m, becoming the first athlete to win four gold medals at the same edition of the event.
The 19-year-old anchored the USA to a world U20 record of 38.62 in the 4x100m on Saturday, improving the previous mark of 38.66, set by another USA quartet 15 years ago at the 2004 World U20 Championships.
He returned to the track on Sunday and ran the second leg in the 4x400m relay as his team went on to break the global mark of 3:00.33, set two years ago at the same meet in Peru.
Justin Robinson, the world U20 leader and individual 400m gold medallist, closed fast to cross the line in 2:59.30. Leadoff runner Frederick Lewis and Matthew Moorer completed the team.
As it happened two years ago, the men&rsquo;s 4x400m world U20 record proved to be a brilliant finale to the championships, held for the first time in Central America.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been wild,&rdquo; said Boling, who will take a short vacation with his family in Costa Rica before starting his college career at the University of Georgia in Athens. &ldquo;My goal was to make an international team here and to win two individual golds and two world records, it&rsquo;s amazing.
&ldquo;In the 4x100m, we all had perfect handoffs. It&rsquo;s been an amazing season. I didn't even expect to run the 100m this year. I was expected to run the 400m this year. I have travelled to cool places and met so many cool people.&rdquo;
Runners-up Jamaica (3:00.99) was rewarded with a national U20 record, followed by Brazil, who improved their own South American U20 record to 3:02.84. Barbados, Costa Rica and Ecuador also bettered their national U20 marks.
The men followed a superb performance by their female counterparts, who erased another 15-year-old world U20 record by a whopping 3.54 seconds.
Alexis Holmes and Kimberly Harris took the team to 1:42 minutes at the halfway mark. Ziyah Holman maintained a comfortable lead at the last exchange and 15-year old world U20 leader and 400m gold medallist Kayla Davis finished strong to stop the clock at 3:24.04, significantly quicker than the 3:27.60 set by another USA squad at the 2004 World U20 Championships. 
<div id="5d35d577e446e711d4ed2de1" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/152fec6a-44b5-4010-9c80-54ff4df224f4.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
The US women's 4x400m team at the Pan-American U20 Championships</div>
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<h3>Dos Santos dominates</h3>
Outside of the relays, Brazil&rsquo;s Alison Alves dos Santos continued with his breakthrough season.
Ten days after winning the World University Games title in Italy, the 1.98m-tall athlete lowered his South American U20 record in the 400m hurdles to 48.49 to move up to third on the world U20 all-time list and fifth on this year&rsquo;s senior list.
Dos Santos completed a Brazilian double in the 400m hurdles; just minutes before his triumph, teammate Jessica Vitoria de Oliveira improved the championship record and South American U20 mark to 55.94.
&ldquo;I am very happy to be part of the Pan American Championships,&rdquo; said Dos Santos. &ldquo;Breaking the record was one of my goals. I am looking to improve my times and be better every time. Overall, I am very happy with our team&rsquo;s performance. Jessica is a good friend and the 4x400m team was amazing with a South American U20 record. The season is not over yet. My next goal will be the Pan American Games in Lima.&rdquo;
<h3>Championship records fall</h3>
The first championship records fell in the field events. Cuba&rsquo;s Youth Olympic Games champion Melany del Pilar Matheus threw the discus to 59.53m, while USA&rsquo;s Tzuriel Pedigo sent the javelin out to 76.95m.
A month after setting a world U20 in the 20km race walk, Glenda Estefania Morejon continued her breakthrough season. The 19-year old missed the championship record by just two seconds but was happy to win Ecuador&rsquo;s first gold medal of the competition.
Noelia Vargas, younger sister of CAC Games 100m hurdles champion Andea Vargas, finished third in the 10,000m race walk to earn Costa Rica&rsquo;s first ever medal in the 39-year history of the event.
Ecuador added another gold medal on the final day when Juleisy Angulo threw the javelin to a South American U20 record of 58.96m, the third-best throw in the world by an U20 athlete in 2019.
Anna Hall also produced a standout performance in the heptathlon. The USA U20 champion closed the competition by a massive personal best in 800m (2:10.11) for a wind-assisted score of 5847. Her wind-legal leap of 5.49m in the long jump gives her a record-eligible PB score of 5829.
The 400m world leaders also delighted the crowd with fast time over one lap of the track. 17-year old Justin Robinson ran 45.04, 0.04 seconds off the championship record, while 15-year old Kayla Davis dominated the women&rsquo;s field in 51.61. Lanae-Tava Thomas also shone in the 200m with 22.80.
With the largest delegation (84 athletes), the United States once again dominated the championships with 50 medals (21 gold, 19 silver and 10 bronze), followed by Canada (6-8-3), Mexico (4-1-2), Jamaica (3-7-7) and Cuba (3-5-3). 17 countries obtained at least one medal.
Chile will host the 21st edition of the Pan American U20 Championships in 2021.
Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure

Sprinter Matthew Boling confirmed his status as a rising star of the sport as he led the USA to two world U20 relay records* while the US 4x400m women added one more to provide a sensational finale to the 20th Pan American U20 Championships, held at San Jose’s National Stadium in Costa Rica on 19-21 July.

Boling leads weekend of three world U20 records at Pan American U20 Championships

Sprint phenomenon Matthew Boling won two of the three events he contested in Miramar at the USA U20 Championships, which concluded on Sunday (23) after three days of action.
The University of Georgia bound sprinter will be busy at the Pan-Am Junior Championships after winning the 100m in a wind-aided 10.15 (2.3m/s) and the 200m in a PB of 20.36 (0.7m/s) to earn a berth on the US team.
The 19-year-old nearly pulled off a trio of titles but ultimately had to settle for third place in the long jump with a best of 7.71m (1.9m/s), just three centimetres shy of Phillip Austin&rsquo;s winning mark of 7.74m (2.9m/s). With just the top two athletes in each event selected for the Pan-Am Junior Championships team, it means Boling won&rsquo;t contest the long jump in San Jose, Costa Rica, on 19-21 July.
&ldquo;It will be a blessing in disguise I can focus on the 100m and 200m,&rdquo; said Boling, who will likely form part of the 4x100m and 4x400m teams next month.
Boling earned a silver medal as part of the US 4x400m squad at the IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018, but he ran in just the heats of the event. After learning that he hadn&rsquo;t been selected to run in the final, he wrote a note on his phone which said: "I will never take an opportunity for granted again.&rdquo;
He found that note again on Friday, the opening day of the US U20 Championships, and it provided the perfect motivation.
&ldquo;Ever since last year, my goal was to make it in open events,&rdquo; Boling said. &ldquo;I thought it was going to be in the 400m.&rdquo;
This season, Boling shifted his focus from the longer sprint to the 100m and the 200m. He became an internet sensation in April after running a wind-assisted 9.98 (4.2m/s). Two weeks later at the Texas State Championships in May, Boling won the 6A 100m title in 10.13 to take 0.02 off the US high school record, breaking a mark that had stood since 1990.
At the same meeting, he clocked a 44.75 split in the 4x400m. Earlier in the year, he also jumped a PB of 8.01m in the long jump at the Texas Relays.
But none of the notoriety could prepare Boling for shifting between the 100m and long jump on Saturday on a humid weekend where temperatures soared over 35C.
In a two-hour window, Boling won the 100m final after winning his heat in a wind-aided 10.13 (2.3m/s). That was followed by taking all six jumps for the first time in the long jump where he suffered his first loss. Boling had never had to take more than three jumps.
&ldquo;I think it will be better at Pan-Ams when I don't have all those events in one day,&rdquo; Boling said. &ldquo;I was just tired.&rdquo;
It was a more favourable schedule for Boling on the final session of the three-day meeting on Sunday. After a wind-assisted 20.30 in the heats, he won the 200m in a wind-legal 20.36.
"I just wanted to qualify for the team because I had a really long day yesterday,&rdquo; Boling said &ldquo;(After the 200m prelims), I knew that I could do something really good in the finals.&rdquo;
<h3>Davis and Robinson impress over one lap</h3>
Kayla Davis and Justin Robinson also followed up their recent breakthroughs in the 400m.
Davis, who last week set a world age-15 best of 51.17, came close to her lifetime best by winning the women&rsquo;s 400m in 51.28.
Justin Robinson, who earlier this month set a world U18 best of 44.84, took the men&rsquo;s title in 45.59. Like Boling, the 17-year-old featured on USA&rsquo;s 4x400m team in Tampere last year.
Brandee Presley of Mississippi won the women's 100m in 11.19 and Lanae-Tava Thomas of Southern California, a member of the Trojans' NCAA champion and world-leading 4x100m relay, won the women's 200m in a windy 22.64.
Brown prevails in historic sprint hurdles race
The closest race of the meeting came in the 110m hurdles where Tai Brown of Kentucky edged reigning Pan-American U20 champion Eric Edwards Jr. of Oregon, 13.204 to 13.209 (both 13.21 officially). Brown and Edwards both equalled the championship record and moved into a tie for third on the US all-time U20 list.
Jamar Marshall, aged 17, placed third in 13.22, moving to sixth on the US U20 all-time list. It was the fastest high school time since 2009 and smashed the junior class record of 13.32 held by Edwards.
Jasmine Jones won the women's 100m hurdles in 13.19 and Britton Wilson won the women's 400m hurdles in 56.29. James Smith won the men's 400m hurdles in 50.29.
<h3>Minichello takes surprise javelin victory</h3>
Marc Anthony Minichello added nearly five metres to his PB to get the better of world U20 silver medallist Tzuriel Pedigo in the men&rsquo;s javelin.
Minichello&rsquo;s third-round effort of 77.15m moves him up to second on the US U20 all-time list. Pedigo, meanwhile, moved to fourth on the US U20 all-time list with 76.14m.
Mayyi Mahama had six throws beyond 60 metres in the women's hammer, highlighted by a fourth-round effort of 65.66m that catapulted her to third on the US U20 all-time list.
Otito Ogbonnia won the men's shot put with 21.42m, putting him fourth on the US U20 all-time list.
Patience Marshall won the women's shot put with 16.05m, while Zach Gehm took the men&rsquo;s discus title with 60.31m.
In her first heptathlon since placing ninth at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships, Anna Hall retained her title with 5646. She had been 147 points ahead of her national high school record of 5798 points after running 13.95 in the 100m hurdles, clearing 1.82m in the high jump, throwing 12.21m in the shot put and running 24.20 in the 200m. She finished with marks of 5.17m in the long jump, 32.16m in the javelin and ran 2:14.73 for the best mark in the 800m on Sunday.
Athing Mu, the 17-year-old who won the US indoor 600m title in 1:23.57 in February, won the women's 800m in 2:05.29.
Taylor Ewert won the women's 10,000m race walk in a championship record of 48:24.61 to become the first athlete since 2002 to win three titles in a row.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF

Sprint phenomenon Matthew Boling won two of the three events he contested in Miramar at the USA U20 Championships, which concluded on Sunday (23) after three days of action.

Schwanitz returns with 19.11m in Chemnitz, Boling clocks 45.51 in Columbia

Boling leads weekend of three world U20 records at Pan American U20 Championships

Boling wins sprint double at USA U20 Championships