Polish shot putter Konrad Bukowiecki (© Getty Images)
Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki got his 2016 campaign off to the best possible start, setting a world U20 indoor record* of 22.48m with the 6kg shot in Torun on Friday (8).
The world junior champion opened his series with two no-throws, but then sent his implement flying out to 22.48m. He ended his series with three more throws beyond the 22-metre line: 22.12m, 22.13m and 22.16m.
His mark adds 13 centimetres to the previous world U20 indoor record, set in 2009 by two-time world champion David Storl. Bukowiecki threw farther than Storl’s mark last year with 22.38m, but it was never ratified as a world U20 indoor record due to lack of an anti-doping test.
Bukowiecki’s performance today is just 14 centimetres shy of his outdoor PB, set when winning the European junior title last summer.
Outdoors, only two athletes – Storl and Jacko Gill – have ever thrown farther than Bukowiecki. But Gill's outdoor world U20 record of 23.00m could come under threat this summer.
Later this year, Bukowiecki will aim to defend his title on home soil at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
*Subject to the usual ratification procedures
