New Zealand's Jacko Gill surprises in the shot with a world age-15 best, a national junior record, and a gold medal (© Getty Images)
Jacko Gill, the reigning World junior champion in the Shot Put, became the youngest man ever to launch the senior Shot Put beyond the 20-metre mark on Friday (23).
Competing at a throwers meeting in North Shore, near Auckland, the 16-year-old won the competition with an incredible 20.01m effort with the 7.26kg shot, breaking the senior national record of 19.80m set by Les Mills 44 years ago.
Gill's barrier-breaking effort came in the second round after he opened with a nearly identical 19.98m toss. Gill, who won't turn 17 until 20 December, became the youngest athlete, by an astounding two years and seven months, to throw beyond 20 metres, passing Michael Carter of the USA, the previous youngest. He also set world bests for 16 year old and 17 year old, improving on the 18.72m by Arnold Campbell of USA in 1983 at 16 and 19.63m by Udo Beyer of Germany in 1973 at 17.
“I’ve trained very hard for this, six to seven hours a day," said Gill. "Les Mills is right up there and to get his records is a dream in itself.”??Mills said that he was not surprised that Gill had broken his resident and national records.
“I thought Jacko was probably six months off breaking it," Mills said. "I’m delighted he has done it, it was time that record was broken, and by a 16-year-old, that’s phenomenal."??
“I look at him with a lot of awe, it is not only a physical thing but a huge mental thing that drives a young man like that to train five to six hours a day. He could be our greatest ever athlete and that is saying something with Peter Snell out there,” added Mills, who represented New Zealand at four Olympic and four Commonwealth Games.
At only 17 at the time of next year’s London Olympic Games, Mills believes he could be amongst the medallists in the Shot Put. “Who would know what this young man can do. Never has there been in the history of athletics a thrower like Jacko, he could be the greatest young shot putter that’s ever been."
??Gill’s father Walter, the New Zealand Shot Put champion in 1987 with 16.05m and in 1989 with 16.19m, said that his son's performance was incredible.??
“He had done 19.10m in training and was consistently out to 18.60m to 18.70m so when he did 19.98m in the opening round I thought that was it, he will have to live with that for the next year, but he is very competitive and has that x factor."
??“To then come out in the next round and do 20.01m that now ranks him 14th in the world this year was incredible,” Walter Gill added.?
Athletics New Zealand for the IAAF
