Valerie Adams won a historic 4th consecutive World Championship gold medal in the women's shot put this morning. The double Olympic gold medalist won in front of pretty much no one at this year's meet in Moscow.
It has been quite an exciting time for New Zealand's best women athletes with Auckland born swimmer, Lauren Boyle enjoying the summer of her life - 3 medals at the World Championships in Barcelona, matching Danyon Loader's haul in 1994 and another in the latest World Cup meet in Berlin.
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| Lauren Boyle with one of her 3 medals at this year's World Champs |
Valerie Adams is a shoe-in for another win there but surely Lauren Boyle is a strong shout.
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| Lauren Boyle at Barcelona this year |
With Belarus' Ostapchuk now gone, women's shotput is much weaker, while Lauren Boyle is up against the likes of Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin, possibly the best woman swimmer in history, amongst other stars in a strong women's swimming lineup. Indeed, Lauren Boyle broke national and past world records during her 3 medal wins in Barcelona which shows you how good her performance was and how good the field is right now.
In a nutshell, Boyle's performance is the best ever by a Kiwi at this level in history and something that hasn't been seen since the halycon days of Danyon Loader. And claims that this isn't the Olympics so it doesn't matter are completely wrong - indeed the quality of the field at the World Champs is often better than at the Olympics since there are no country restrictions - it's pretty much the cream of the crop?
So surely this year must belong to the 25-year-old late bloomer to the sport? Furthermore, Val is the incumbent sportswoman of the year, and has been since 2006, and has also won the Supreme Award twice in 2008 and 2009, so perhaps it's time to give someone else a chance?
Your thoughts please.
Your thoughts please.
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