Tom Walsh winning and breaking records

Tom Walsh notched his third victory in four days overnight, defending the title he won last year at the IAAF World Challenge in Zagreb, Croatia. 

In the middle of a very a very demanding schedule, Walsh sent his sixth and final throw soaring out to a fresh New Zealand record (pending ratification) of 21.62m to snatch the win from Jamaican O'Dayne Richards, the 2015 World Championships bronze medallist and 2014 Commonwealth gold medallist.

The throw adds four centimetres to the 23 year olds previous NZ record of 21.58 set during the recent World Championships in Beijing, where he finished in fourth place.

As well as surpassing his previous personal best and claiming an Oceania record, Walsh has now beaten both the silver and bronze medallists from Beijing twice each in the three recent competitions.

On Friday, the Christchurch builder threw 21.22 to win at the Werfetag meeting in Thum, Germany, defeating German star and two times world champions David Storl and then on Sunday he improved to 21.47 at the ISTAF meeting in in Berlin to beat Storl and Richards. 

Walsh now looks forward to the Diamond League finale in Brussels on Friday, where he will take on all the leading shot putters from 2015 including world number one and world champion Joe Kovacs of the USA. The last meeting of his European campaign before he returns to New Zealand will be in Bad Kostritz, Germany on Sunday.