Tom Walsh’s Olympic medal hopes dashed by injury in Paris

Tom Walsh didn’t want to die wondering.

Walsh, who claimed bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, thinks he tore his abductor or hip flexor during his second throw of the men’s shot put final at Stade de France this morning but threw a third time to see if he could pull it off.

He was seen grabbing his upper left leg and limping after the throw. He attempted to stretch and assess the issue but was unable to continue. He made a final attempt in the circle, which resulted in a third consecutive foul, leading him to call it quits.

Speaking to Michael Burgess afterwards, Walsh revealed he noticed his leg was stiff lately but today he had “done a number on it”.

“I’ve been finding some wee niggles in there for the last month and knew that it [getting injured] was a possibility but I gave it a go,” he said. “I wanted to commit to the throws. I committed to the two throws that I was somewhat healthy on, and then I thought, f*** it, give it a go on the last one because I don’t wanna be sitting back there tonight wondering if I could have.

“[I felt it] just before release on that second throw. I’ve done it a few times before so I knew what I had done. It’s definitely been getting better the last couple of months. But when we’re out there doing what we do, we’re pushing the limit and we always know that there is a chance of that stuff happening. I’m just proud of myself that I committed to the throws that I had.

“I still thought that I had a chance to come out here and throw really well today. I threw well yesterday and I wanted to commit to some throws, and that’s what I did. The body just didn’t play ball. But I’ll be back, don’t worry about that.”

After withdrawing, Walsh received hugs from his fellow competitors.

Fellow compatriot Jacko Gill finished in sixth with his third throw his longest, reaching 21.15m.

Meanwhile, sprinter Zoe Hobbs has failed to progress to the women’s 100m final after finishing sixth with a time of 11.13 in the third semi-final. Hobbs looked great early and was sitting third through 60m before tailing off.

It came after one of the world’s greatest sprinters ever, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, withdrew from the second semi-final. The Jamaican sprint legend and eight-time Olympic medalist posted the second fastest time of the heats with an impressive 10.92, just 0.05 seconds behind the heats’ overall pace-setter Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith at the Stade de France.

However, the 37-year-old, who has already said Paris will be her Olympic swansong, has since been listed as DNS - did not start.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission