Taking bronze behind Whiting in Sopot was New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh. Whiting – Walsh: ‘Common ground wherever we go’ Whiting’s artefacts are now on display in the 3D virtual Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) and will be exhibited in March during the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. World Athletics Heritage is proud that one of the recent giants of the shot has generously donated the tee-shirt, number and implement he used in the process of taking a grip on pole position in Poland, as well as a competition number from Istanbul two years before. “I came in the favourite and I’m glad I just did execute this time, because I was the favourite last summer and didn’t,” he said. It took a mighty fourth-round effort of 22.05m to settle the outcome in favour of a mightily relieved Whiting. The final proved to be a gripping affair, Storl snatching an opening round lead with 21.35m, Whiting hitting back with 21.47m and his German rival – twice a world champion outdoors – responding with 21.79m in the second round. Having finished the 2013 outdoor season at the top of the world list but with ‘only’ silver from the World Championships in Moscow, where Germany’s David Storl took the gold, Whiting was determined to secure a second global indoor title to reaffirm his standing as the world’s pre-eminent male shot putter. Ryan Whiting headed to the World Indoor Championships in the Polish coastal resort of Sopot in 2014 as clear favourite to retain the crown he had claimed in Istanbul two years previously.Īt the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, the Pennsylvanian had uncorked a stunning 22.23m, the fifth best men’s indoor shot mark in history at that time.