China’s Gong Lijiao celebrates after winning the women’s shot put final on Thursday.
After winning bronze medal at the World Championships in Berlin a decade ago, Gong Lijiao has been winning medals often. On Thursday night, the Chinese star became the fourth women to win back-to-back world titles but she doesn’t want to stop here.
After a dozen of victories this year, Lijiao entered the women’s shot put final as hot favourite and she lived up to expectations hurling 19.55m to retain her title at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 at Khalifa International Stadium.
The 30-year-old took a lead clearing a distance of 19.07m in the first round, but when she was looking comfortable Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd threw 19.36m in the third round, prompting her 19.55m response in round four to seal victory.
Danniel finally got a silver medal with her best of 19.47 while Germany’s Christina Schwanitz reached 19.17m to pick a bronze medal.
“This title will definitely give me a lot of confidence for my future events,” said Lijiao after securing the title.
“I’m very excited about tonight’s competition. It’s my second victory at the World Championships in a row and I’m really proud I managed to defend my title from London. In the same time, I’m happy that all these things ended, as, actually, I’m not satisfied with my result,” she said.
She was feeling lucky to win the crown after a miscalculation in the warm-up session ahead of the final.
“I think I did my biggest mistake tonight during warming-up, as I did too many throws before the competition started. The weather was very hot and I think a mix of these facts affected my readiness and took a lot of my energy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Thomas-Dodd hailed the level of competition in the final and was happy to secure a podium finish.
“It was really good. All the ladies fought definitely hard. To get the podium tonight wasn’t easy. So, to finish among the top three was the highlight of this competition for me,” she said.
“I think I could go further. If my throws during the first three rounds were technically the same or close to the one I had in the fifth round, it would be a different competition,” Thomas-Dodd added.
Bronze-winning Schwanitz said: “I’m very happy. Competition was really great for me considering so many changes in my life, which I have to cope after giving birth to my twins. I’m not an 18-year-old and I still can win world medals. It was competition I’m proud for.”
The German said she was not thinking much about the next season.
“I even didn’t think yet about next year. Sometimes it’s difficult to say my plans for the next two weeks. Certainly, I think about the Olympics. It should be a great competition, but it’s still too far from today,” she said.
