After years of missing out of a global gold at major championships, Jessica Schilder finally did it. In a sweaty, humid, and insanely close competition, the Dutchwoman initially struggled to put out a big mark – along with most of the competition.
But then came the sixth round, her last chance. She was clear from the podium, but with one last effort she topped the competition by throwing 20.29m, knocking off Maddison-Lee Wesche from the top spot which she had occupied the whole five rounds prior.
American Chase Jackson then followed suit after being bumped into fourth, moving up into second spot and moving Kiwi, Wesche down to third.
She said “I still cannot believe it has happened,” .“Not because I was not prepared, but because I became ill last week. I had a fever for three days. That is why my confidence was lower and I didn’t think it was possible anymore to get a medal here.
Schilder added “But my coach said that nothing is impossible and I believed him 100 per cent. Even after not such a good start to the final I said that I’m going to try until the end. And it worked.’
“Being in fifth position before the last round I thought, ‘No, I don’t want to meddle with this. I have to end the season on a high note.’ I wanted a world championship’s medal so badly and I had to do it. You don’t have a chance like this very often.”
Despite the competition still giving a great show, the women were far from happy with the conditions having competed in a qualifying and final in the same day, with only five hours in between to recover.
Jackson explained “I think I woke up at four, qualifying at 10, got back to the hotel not till 11, because it’s so far away,” “Five hours later I had to get on a bus again. And it was just really hard, hard to come back – I’ve never felt older in my life than today.
She added “I think it’s kind of sad because I think they [the crowd] would have seen something even more [if not for the conditions]. Obviously it wasn’t the worst finish, it’s still one of the best podiums probably in a long time. “But I think we all would agree that we could have done something special. This is going in a separate drawer for the hardest thing I’ve ever had to work for in my life.”
“FIELD CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT TRACK” This is the last global championships for the shot putters for two years until the World Athletics Championships goes to Beijing in 2027. However, many events will have the chance to compete at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships next year in Budapest, but with shot put excluded, the throwers aren’t happy.
Schilder said “My opinion about this is give everybody a chance or don’t do it. That is all I’m going to say.” Meanwhile,
Jackson elaborately explained her frustration on the continued exclusion of the event and throws in general, despite the proven interest from fans.
She said “The things that throwing has done in the past like generations and we’re out here fighting for our lives and pretty much most of the other events get babied, like cut the cord” .
“We can only do so much until we need other people to start advocating for us, because it’s just going to be crazy.’
World Shot Put Series that Ryan [Crouser] did, showed an amazing thing to me, which was that field can survive without track, but track can’t survive without field. Ahem, Grand Slam.
“I think we need to work together or else the sport’s going to go and all of us are going down with the ship.”
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Jasmine Trapnell is part of the Media Academy, an initiative of World Athletics in partnership with AIPS
