What Did They Throw As Junior Athletes? Shot Put Edition

The most recent study of the top 10 in the world and what they threw as youth and junior athletes

Name	U18	U20	Open
Joe Kovacs	19.78 – 12lb shot	16.89 – 16lb	22.56
David Storl	21.40 – 5kg	22.73 – 6kg	22.2
O’Dayne Richards	N/A	N/A	21.69
Christian Cantwell	18.32 – 12lb	19.67 – 16lb	22.54
Tomas Walsh	20.21 – 5kg	20.56 – 6kg	21.62
Asmir Kolasinac	N/A	16.95 – 16lb	21.58
Jordan Clarke	21.71 – 12lb	20.46 – 6kg	21.49
Ryan Whiting	21.73 – 12lb	19.75 – 6kg	22.28
Thomas Schmitt	18.58 – 5kg	19.75 – 6kg	21.35
Reese Hoffa	19.58 – 12lb	N/A	22.43

This list is extremely interesting. Their is a fair variety between all throwers in their youth and junior years but as a senior their PB’s are within around a metre of each other. From Thomas Schmitt at 18.58 and Christian Cantwell at 18.32 with the 12lb to Ryan Whiting and Jordan Clarke at over 21.70 metres with the 12lb.

The U20 throws have less differential however their is a great outlier with David Storl at 22.73 with the 6kg. This shows that for the elite shot putters in this day and age there is effectively a bench mark that is achieved as a junior thrower before progressing into the senior ranks.

However whilst comparing the difference in Joe Kovacs and David Storl it still proves that if you are not making top 10 rankings whilst U20 you can still throw extremely far. You would think that the throwers that throw extremely far would hit huge throws early on in their career and basically peak earlier than a less prominent junior however this is not always the case.

Ryan Whiting threw 21.73 with the US high school shot and has improved since throwing his P.B in 2013 of 22.28 at 27 years of age. Contrary to this Christian Cantwell threw 18.32 with the 12lb in high school, 19.67 with the 16lb as a junior and set his personal best at 23 years of age. The latest of bloomers in this list is Asmir Kolasinac who set his personal best of 21.58 this year at age 31.

Some interesting information to think about

Happy Throwing