Tom Walsh wins his fourth world gold for New Zealand as multiple British champions Lincoln finish agonizingly outside the medals in Poland.
Scott Lincoln recorded Britain’s best ever result at the world indoor championships on Sunday (March 22). His longest throw of 21.13m is also the best by a British shooter in the majors. But such are his high standards, he will be disappointed to miss out on the medals in fourth place.
It is often described as “the worst position to finish”. So close and yet so far. Lincoln, 32, has had to do it a few times, too.
Two years ago he was fourth at the European Championships in Rome, while 12 months ago he finished fourth again at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
It was a world event in Torun, but as Lincoln fell to Tom Walsh, the New Zealander won his fourth world title with 21.82m, plus runners-up Jordan Geist 21.64m and Roger Steen 21.49m, both representing the United States.
Lincoln also put some good pitchers behind it. Among them was the reigning European champion in outdoor sports
details Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri, who finished seventh here, plus one or two from last year’s European indoor tournament, Romania’s Andrej Rares Toader and Sweden’s Viktor Pettersson, who finished 12th and fifth on this occasion.
Furthermore, Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki, a former European indoor champion, finished eighth despite home support and following the success of his wife Natalya, who won 400m silver 24 hours earlier.
What’s even more frustrating for Lincoln is that he was in medal position throughout the competition. His throw of 20.98m in the first round put him second, and he was third after throwing a season’s best 21.13m in the second round. He then threw 20.78m, 20.65m, 21.06m and 20.88m, but it was not to be.
“Screaming all the way makes it a lot harder,” he said. “There’s a lot of frustration, but I held my own and kept things. I think I’ll still go into the final round and do well, my coach (Dale Stevenson) will be happy.”
Lincoln is now based in Melbourne with a new training group and is clearly thriving under the new line-up. He is likely to reach a career high with Jeff Capes’ long-standing British record of 21.68m his final goal.
READ MORE. Scott Lincoln Interview
In addition to the long journey from Australia to Europe over the past few months, the British team pulled out of one of their planned warm-up races; European Throwing Cup to be held in Cyprus due to security concerns “My preparation has been incredible in the build-up and I’ve made some big throws in training the last few days, although it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t do it here.
“We have two majors this year, both at home, so we’re just going to keep rolling and keep believing.”
