Canada’s Sarah Mitton threw 20.48m to retain her title after a stacked shot put battle at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 2025 on Friday.
With the third-farthest mark of her career behind her two 20.68m throws achieved indoors and outdoors, Mitton gained another gold to go with the crown she claimed in Glasgow last year.
World leader Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands secured silver with 20.07m and USA’s two-time world champion Chase Jackson bagged bronze with 20.06m, making it the first time since 1991 that all three medallists in the event surpassed 20 metres. All three had also thrown beyond 20 metres in the lead-up, making the clash highly anticipated.
After an opening foul, and in her first competition since throwing 20.69m to win the European indoor title in Apeldoorn, Schilder was the first to throw beyond the 20-metre mark with 20.07m in the second round.
Jackson responded with 19.40m to move into third place and that’s where she stayed as Mitton, who opened with 19.61m, was next up in the circle.
Throwing 20.36m, the Canadian 28-year-old moved into the lead with what was then her second-farthest ever indoor throw.
China’s Tokyo Olympic champion and two-time world gold medallist Gong Lijiao sat in fourth, on 18.84m.
Jackson improved to 19.91m in the third round, strengthening her position in third place, and she managed 19.67m in the fourth round, a mark matched by Schilder with the very next throw of the competition, a World Athletics report said.
Then it was Mitton’s turn again, and she surpassed 20 metres for the second time of the contest, launching the implement 20.15m to back up her leading mark.
Sweden’s Fanny Roos moved into fourth place in the fifth round with 19.28m, while Jackson managed 18.97m and both Mitton and Schilder recorded fouls.
But Mitton was building up to something big, while Jackson was also getting ready to close her campaign on a high.
The US two-time world champion ended with a mark of 20.06m, just a single centimetre behind Schilder’s silver medal-winning mark, and so Jackson claimed her second world indoor bronze and third medal overall, after that third-place finish in 2024 and her silver medal from 2022.
Mitton had the final throw of the competition and she made it count. She let out a roar as the shot left her grasp and she put her hands to her face after it landed at 20.48m – her title retained.
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