Oslo, Norway - The women’s Shot Put will be one of a number of events that makes a welcome return to Norway’s famous Bislett Stadium as yet another highlight of the ExxonMobil Bislett Games. The 9 June event at the Oslo venue will be the fifth chapter in this year’s Samsung Diamond League series and expectations are high for the quality of the event.
This competition will feature the first clash in 2011 of the top two female shot putters in the world, 2010 World indoor champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus, and the current Olympic and World champion Valerie Adams from New Zealand.
Ostapchuk had a stellar 2010 season winning the World Indoors in Doha and then remaining undefeated throughout the inaugural Samsung Diamond League competition. Her season’s best of 20.95m. wasn’t far short of her lifetime 21.09m best and she will be looking to go well beyond the 21-metre mark in this World Championship year.
It wasn’t until the IAAF Continental Cup in September that she tasted her first defeat of the season and it was at the hands of her arch-rival Adams. She has been a very successful athlete winning at both World Championships and World Indoor Championships as well as claiming medals at both form in European Championships.
For Adams, 2010 was a turbulent year with many changes in her life. It wasn’t in any way a bad season for the tall Kiwi – in addition to her Continental Cup victory with a big throw of 20.86m, she defended her Commonwealth title and was second at the World Indoor Championships.
2011 has seen a new and more determined Adams emerging. She is now spending time with her new coach Jean-Pierre Egger and is basing herself in Macolin, Switzerland, at the famous BASPO sports centre. Adams will compete sparingly prior to Daegu so she can sharpen facets of her technique, before looking at a new personal best in access of the existing mark of 2l.07m. She has already begun this year with some emphatic performances in Oceania including a world leading heave of 20.55m at the Sydney Track Classic on 19 March. Oslo will be her first competition in Europe this year for the native of Aotearoha.
The men’s Shot Put was a great success when it was re-introduced at Bislett last seasonand from an initial look at the field that meeting director Steinar Hoen is assembling, it appears that this competition will be tight and warmly received by the knowledgeable Bislett crowd. However the top two will not have things their own way as USA’s Jill Camarena (19.50m PB) and Germany’s Nadine Kleinhert (20.20m PB) are both capable of an improvement and a subsequent upset.
Samsung Diamond League
