European champion Leonardo Fabbri added another major medal to his collection, winning bronze in a closely contested men’s shot put final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Saturday (13).
It added to the surprise world silver he won two years ago in Budapest. USA’s world record holder Ryan Crouser won his fourth successive gold at the World Athletics Championships in the fifth round with 22.34m.
Fabbri settles nerves in second round
After an uneasy qualification in the morning and a best of 20.95m, Fabbri settled any nerves with a second round 21.83m in the final to put him in second place behind Crouser who had landed a 21.99m heave in the second round.
In a pivotal fifth round, New Zealand’s Tom Walsh pushed his way into the picture with 21.94m. Fabbri responded with an identical distance, but clung on to silver by virtue of his next best throw. Crouser asserted his dominance with the competitions longest throw to tighten his grip on gold.
Mexico’s Uziel Muñoz landed a final round throw of 21.97m to leap into silver. Nor Fabbri or Walsh could improve in the final round and the Italian settled for bronze.
"Favourite competition"
"This is my favourite competition ever," said the ebullient Fabbri afterwards. "I like it so much. I had the worst warm-up ever. I am an explosive guy and I didn''t feel good after this morning. I just couldn't land the shot in the right position.
"I must be explosive and quick in order to throw far. I threw well in the first round, better in the second, but when I saw Tom throwing 21.94m I knew I needed to throw 22 metres to win a medal.
"I had a great reaction and I am really proud of myself. I am very happy for Uziel for winning the silver medal but I am a bit sad for Tom because he really inspires me.
"I hope I can win a gold at the next championships but I am happy with the bronze today. I had a tough season last year so this was kind of redemption for me."