WCH Tokyo 25 facts and figures: women's shot put

Last three sets of World Athletics Championships medallists

2023 – 1 Chase Ealey (USA) 20.43m, 2 Sarah Mitton (CAN) 20.08m, 3 Gong Lijiao (CHN) 19.69m
2022 – 1 Chase Ealey (USA) 20.49m, 2 Gong Lijiao (CHN) 20.39m, 3 Jessica Schilder (NED) 19.77m
2019 – 1 Gong Lijiao 19.55m, 2 Danniel Thomas-Dodd (JAM) 19.47m, 3 Christina Schwanitz (GER) 19.17m

Last two sets of Olympic medallists

2024 – 1 Yemisi Ogunleye (GER) 20.00m, 2 Maddi-Lee Wesche 19.86m, 3 Song Jiayuan (CHN) 19.32m
2020 – 1 Gong Lijiao (CHN) 20.58m, 2 Raven Saunders (USA) 19.79m, 3 Valerie Adams (NZL) 19.62m

Longest winning throws in World Athletics Championships history

21.24m – Natalya Lisovskaya (URS), 1987
21.24m – Valerie Vili/Adams (NZL), 2011
21.22m – Astrid Kumbernuss (GER), 1995

Shortest winning throw in World Championships history

19.55m – Gong Lijiao (CHN), 2019

Best marks on Japanese soil

21.17m 1 Svetlana Krachevskaya (URS) - Tokyo 20.09.1980
20.95m 1 Astrid Kumbernuss (GER) - Fukuoka (Grand Prix Final) 13.09.1997
20.83m 1 Huang Zhihong (CHN) - Tokyo (World Championships) 24.08.1991

Best marks on Asian soil

22.24m 1 Natalya Lisovskaya (URS/RUS) - Seoul (Olympics) 01.10.1988
21.76m 1 Li Meisu (CHN) - Shijiazhuang 23.04.1988
21.66m 1 Sui Xinmei (CHN) - Beijing 09.06.1990

Biggest winning margins

1.22m 2011 – 21.24m Valerie Adams (NZL), 20.02m Jill Camarena-Williams (USA)
1.18m 1995 – 21.22m Astrid Kumbernuss (GER), 20.04m Huang Zhihong (CHN)
0.77m 2007 – 20.54m Valerie Vili/Adams (NZL), 19.77m Nadine Kleinert (GER)

​​Smallest winning margins

0.02m 2005 – 19.64m Olga Ryabinkina (RUS), 19.62m Valerie Vili/Adams (NZL)
0.03m 1987 – 21.24m Natalya Lisovskaya (URS/RUS), 21.21m Kathrin Neimke (GDR/GER)
0.05m 1997 – 20.71m Astrid Kumbernuss (GER), 20.66m Vita Pavlysh (UKR)

Best mark by round

Qualification — 20.69 Astrid Kumbernuss (GER), 1997
Final — 21.24 Natalya Lisovskaya (URS), 1987

Multiple winners

1991/93 - Huang Zhihong (CHN)
1995/97/99 - Astrid Kumbernuss (GER)
2007/09/11/13 - Valerie Adams (NZL)
2017/19 - Gong Lijiao (CHN)
2022/23 - Chase Ealey/Jackson (USA)

Winners by country

4 - China
4 - Germany
4 - New Zealand
2 - Russia
2 - United States
1 - Belarus
1 - Czechoslovakia
1 - Soviet Union

Five historic facts

• Only four world champions have been crowned in this event since 2007: Valerie Adams (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013), Christina Schwanitz (2015), Gong Lijiao (2017, 2019) and Chase Jackson (2022, 2023)
• Gong Lijiao (CHN) has won medals in the shot put at the last eight World Championships dating back to 2009. She was also sixth at the 2007 World Championships
• There have been four 21-metre plus winning throws in World Championships history. The last one came back in 2011 when Valerie Adams (NZL) equalled Natalya Lisovskaya's championship record with 21.24m
• Valerie Adams made history in 2013 by becoming the first female athlete to win four successive world titles in the same event 
• Chase Jackson became the first ever American woman to win a women's shot put title when she won on home soil in 2022

Potential storylines

• Can Chase Jackson (USA) become just the third woman to win three titles in the event?
• Gong Lijiao is making her 10th successive appearance at the World Championships. Can she win her ninth medal at the age of 36?
• Six athetes on the entry-list have broken the 20 metre-barrier in 2025