Delsea’s Josh Awotunde was one of 12 shot putters to advance to the finals at the World Championships during qualifying that was actually held tomorrow in Tokyo [it was Saturday morning in Tokyo, Friday night in the Eastern U.S.]
Awotunde threw 68-2, 8th-best among 36 entrants. The top 12 advanced to the final on Saturday. Marks don’t carry over to the final.
Awotunde followed his 68-2 with a 67-1 and then fouled on his 3rd attempt.
Shot put qualifying was split into two groups of 18. Awotunde was 3rd in Group B, behind Tom Walsh of New Zealand [71-3 ¾] and Scott Lincoln of Great Britain [68-2 ¾].
Five throwers in Group A, including two Americans, threw farther: Adrian Piperi of the U.S. [21.47], American Ryan Crouser [21.37], Wictor Petersson of Sweden [21.14], Leonard Fabbri of Italy [20.95] and Chukwuebuka Cornnell Enekwechi of Nigeria [20.83].
Anyone throwing a certain distance – that isn’t listed anywhere in the results – advances to the final automatically. That distance is somewhere between 69-4 ¼ [the best mark that isn’t listed as an auto qualifier] and 70-1 ¼ [the worst mark that is listed as an auto qualifier].
The final is scheduled for 8 a.m. EST on Saturday, which is 9 p.m. Saturday in Japan.
Awotunde, a 2013 graduate of Delsea, won the U.S. Championships in Eugene last month to earn a berth at Worlds with a final-throw PR of 73-8 ¾.
He’s ranked 3rd in the world behind world championship silver medalist and European champion Leonardo Fabbri of Italy [74-10] and two-time world champion and three-time Olympic medalist Joe Kovacs of the U.S. [73-9].
In his only previous appearance at Worlds, Awotunde placed 3rd in 2022 in Eugene. Awotunde ranks 17th in world history and No. 10 in U.S. history.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 