A disappointing opening day at the World Championships for Delsea’s Josh Awotunde, who didn’t qualify for the shot put finals in the qualifying rounds early Saturday morning in Budapest, Hungary.
Awotunde threw 65-6 ½ and missed the cutoff of 68-0 ½ by 2 ½ feet. The top 12 throwers in the qualifying round or anyone who threw 70-2 ½ advanced to the final, which begins at 6:37 p.m. Saturday at the National Sports Center on the Danube River.
A tweet by Throwers Universe showed Awotunde committing a sector foul of a couple inches on what would have been an automatic qualifier.
The 65-6 ½ is an uncharacteristic performance for Awotunde, who placed 3rd at Worlds last year with a PR 73-1 ½ throw in Eugene. The last time he didn’t throw 20 meters (65-7 ¼) was at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, on Aug. 7, 2019, when his best throw was 62-5 ½.
Awotunde threw 72-6 ¼ to place second at U.S. Nationals last month. He’s surpassed 70 feet 22 times since May of 2021, including three throws of 72-10 or better at Worlds last year. Awotunde entered Worlds ranked 9th in the world with that 72-6 ¼.
Full series info for the qualifying rounds is not available in the official results.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 