Holly Robinson.
Image/Supplied
A stunning Oceania record throw of 12.25m propelled Holly Robinson to a brilliant women’s shot put F46 silver medal on day six of the Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan today.
The vastly experienced 29-year-old Kiwi competing at her seventh edition of the event advanced in the final stanza from
provisional bronze ahead of Japan’s Yukiko Sato to climb to the second rung of the podium and clinch her sixth Para worlds medal of her illustrious career.
World record-holder Noelle Malkamaki of the US mounted a successful defence of her title with a mighty best throw of 13.12m.
Robinson, the Paralympic javelin F46 champion who opted to focus on the shot put only in Japan, was rewarded with more
precious metal after steadily building through the competition which reached a glorious crescendo in the final round.
The Kiwi opened with a solid first round effort of 10.87m to move into provisional silver behind Malkamaki who powered
the metal orb out to 12.23m to take an early grip on the 11-woman final.
In the second stanza, Saito made a decisive move to dislodge Robinson from second, tossing the shot out to a season’s
best of 11.72m while Robinson responded with an 11.12m effort to sit third. Ominously Malkamaki strengthened her grip on
gold with a formidable throw of 12.95m
Robinson improved her best distance of the competition with an encouraging 11.48m in round three while the top two made
no further improvement.
Following the reordering at the halfway stage of the competition, the Dunedin-based athlete registered 11.33m in round
four. However, Malkamaki launched the 4kg metal ball out to a monster 13.12m to come within 20cm of her world and
championship record.
In round five, Jiamin Zhang popped out a PB of 11.46m as the Chinese athlete in fourth came within just 2cm of the
Hokitika-raised athlete. Nonetheless, Robinson responded to the rising challenge popping out a best of the day – to that
point - of 11.51m with her penultimate effort.
Yet Robinson boasts formidable pedigree and resolve at the highest level - as proved by her sixth round gold medal
winning throw in the women’s javelin F46 at the Tokyo Paralympics and yet again she showed an appetite for high pressure
situations as she smashed out a mighty 12.25m in the final stanza to add 8cm to her national and Oceania record mark set
in Christchurch in February. Saito could only respond with an 11.51m and the silver was pocketed by the New Zealander
with the Japanese athlete in bronze.
Robinson said: “It was a real nerve-wracking comp a lot of the girls were throwing shorter distances. Heading into my
last throw I knew I had a medal in the bag, but I really wanted silver.
“I just wasn’t technically nailing it (in the earlier rounds), I was a bit out of time the circle was quite sticky, so I
needed to focus on getting that foot underneath. I managed to do that, and to produce a very good throw, I’m very happy.
“I’m feeling a bit of relief and excitement. It proves I can get over that 12-metre mark again. I’ve only been over 12
metres once in my life before this day, so to hit it again I was really happy. I know there is a lot more there, so I
can’t wait for Paris and I’m looking forward to what the next few months will hold.”
The next Kiwi to compete at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships is Danielle Aitchison who will be defending her
world women’s 200m T36 title at 8.57pm on Thursday.
For more details on the team and a full schedule of when the Kiwis compete go here