Feb. 25, 2007
BOSTON - Former Missouri track-and-field star Christian Cantwell (Eldon, Mo.) won his third American shot put title on Sunday at the USATF Indoor Championships in Boston. On his first throw, Cantwell launched a 71 foot, 3¼ inch (21.72m) strike that was never answered. In addition, Cantwell was crowned as the VISA Championship Series Champion, garnering a $25,000 bonus for recording the best performance of any American male athlete throughout the indoor season.
Cantwell's season-best mark of 71-9½ (21.88m) set at the 100th Millrose Games earlier in the month kept Cantwell in the overall point lead in the VISA Series. With the captured title today, Cantwell was eligible for the prize, but had to wait for the rest of the day's events to see the other performances to see if it would top his 1,233 point-total. The last event of the day was the men's 60-meter dash. The winner would have to run 6.45 or better to top Cantwell's point total and take away the prize. Former Oklahoma Sooner DaBryan Blanton took the 60-meter title, but in 6.56 seconds, allowing Cantwell a sigh-of-relief.
Cantwell was seen on ESPN2's coverage with a very intense eye on the men's 60, going as far as trying to use his wristwatch as a stopwatch to know right away his fate.
"It was really nerve-racking," said Cantwell on the wait to see if he had won the VISA Crown. "I think it's cool for the fans to see some drama in this type of setting, but I would have much rather known earlier if I had it wrapped up."
Cantwell has now won the U.S. indoor title twice, also doing so in 2004 on the way to the IAAF World Indoor title the same year. Being an odd-numbered year, there will be no IAAF World Indoor Championship held this year. Cantwell also won the shot put title at the 2005 USATF Outdoor Championships.
Today's performance ranks as Cantwell's third best indoor mark of all-time. Cantwell has finished the indoor season with three of the four-longest throws in the World this year.
Cantwell, ranked No. 2 in the world, had a fantastic six-throw series, marking over 21 meters (68-10¾) in five of six tosses. No. 1 Reese Hoffa was second to Cantwell by 20 inches, throwing 69-7 (21.21m).
Cantwell will start the outdoor season quickly, traveling next to Melbourne, Australia for the Telstra Melbourne Track Classic on March 2nd.
Men Shot Put ========================================================================== World: W 22.66m 1/20/1989 Randy Barnes, USA American: A 22.66m 1/20/1989 Randy Barnes, Mazda TC Meet: M 21.83m 2/26/2005 John Godina, adidas Name Year Team Finals ========================================================================== Finals 1 Christian Cantwell Nike 21.72m 71-03.25 21.72m 21.06m 21.09m 21.29m 21.23m FOUL 2 Reese Hoffa Nyac 21.21m 69-07.00 20.91m 20.77m FOUL 20.83m 21.21m FOUL 3 Dan Taylor Nike 20.32m 66-08.00 FOUL 20.10m 20.32m FOUL FOUL FOUL 4 Sheldon Battle unattached 20.24m 66-05.00 FOUL 19.95m FOUL FOUL 20.00m 20.24m 5 John Godina adidas 19.63m 64-05.00 19.45m FOUL 19.58m 19.63m FOUL FOUL 6 Rhuben Williams Shore Athlet 19.34m 63-05.50 FOUL 19.34m 18.71m 18.26m FOUL 19.27m 7 Vincent Mosca unattached 19.33m 63-05.00 19.22m FOUL FOUL FOUL FOUL 19.33m 8 Steve Manz unattached 19.32m 63-04.75 FOUL 19.27m 19.32m FOUL FOUL FOUL