Jacko Gill join Tom Walsh in the Shot Put Final

New Zealand will have two athletes in the final of the shot put after Jacko Gill threw 21.12m in his first attempt in Group B, clearing the auto-qualifying mark of 20.90m.
Jacko will join Tom Walsh in the final on Saturday local time (Sunday, 7.05am NZT).

Jacko said it was a good start and he is looking forward to the final. “It’s feeling good. Still a lot to learn, a few things I could do better for the final, so we’ll sit down to make those changes.”

Athletics New Zealand camp in Cyprus and training alongside Tom were part of the 24 year old’s preparations for the event: “It was really awesome to train with Tom and having everything literally outside of the hotel room was really good, so I’m very lucky to be on those camps and have the best preparation possible.”

Jacko added that it was good to be back. “I doubted myself a lot when I was sick so it’s nice to be out here now. It was a long road back, I’ve been through some pretty dark places, so it means a lot more than what it did at my first one [world championships] so I’m really happy to be here.”

12 throwers across the two qualifying groups cleared 20.90m to qualify for the men’s shot put final.

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