With his 22.43 heave, Hoffa steals the spotlight in London - IAAF World Athletics Tour 2007 04. August 07

London, UK - A scintillating return to one lap racing by Jeremy Wariner was the highlight of the Norwich Union London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace this evening, a meeting that featured the first 22m shot put in the world this year by Reese Hoffa and some superb jumping competitions on a warm, breezy evening in south London.
The London meeting is a Super Grand Prix status event as part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2007.

The world and Olympic champion made the most of the near perfect conditions to demonstrate that he will again be the man to beat when the world’s best athletes gather in Japan in three weeks time, clocking 44.05, merely three hundredths slower than the last time he ran a 400m back in early May.

“I am about where I need to be – almost but not quite,” was Wariner’s verdict. “I need to go back home and do a couple of weeks work to get myself fully ready. I would have liked to have gone under 44 but I am happy with tonight’s race.”

Wariner lined up to run a 400m in Sheffield three weeks ago but slipped coming out of his blocks and went down as a DNF. This time he made no mistake, showing he’s lost none of his competitive edge as he held off last year’s World Cup champion LaShawn Merritt.

Merritt in lane three came into the final straight half a stride ahead of Wariner in four, but the man who’s won 14 of his last 16 races wasn’t going to let this one go easily. Wariner held his nerve and his form to win in the second best time in the world this year.

“That was a close race,” he said. “I knew he would be there and I felt him on the turn, but I managed to find enough strength to hold him off.”

Merritt finished second in 44.23 while Johan Wissman in third proved that his move up to 400m has been worthwhile. The Swede clocked a national record 45.03, finishing ahead of Commonwealth champion John Steffensen, while Britain’s Tim Benjamin produced his best form of the year to finish fifth in 45.28, surely enough to see him on the plane to Osaka.

Mammoth 22.43 for Hoffa

Reese Hoffa made the most of the spotlight shone on the men’s Shot Put – it was staged in the centre of the infield – as he pushed himself onto the cusp of the all-time top ten at this event with a best of 22.43m, the climax of a thrilling competition.

Hoffa had led from the first round with 21.35 until his fellow American Christian Cantwell – who’d had four fouls following his first round 20.67 – snatched the lead with the penultimate put of the competition, at 21.66. The furious Hoffa was having none of it and he returned to the circle to unleash a throw of 22.43, the best in the world this year by nearly half a metre and his best ever outdoors by 46 centimetres.

“When Chris threw a bomb in the last round I knew I had to pull one out,” he said. “He beats me all the time in the last round so I knew I had to hit the ball as hard as I could. Everything went right and I get a new PB – a massive PB. I can’t believe it.”

Results

Pos	Athlete	Nat	Mark		Pts
1	Hoffa Reese	USA	22.43		20
2	Cantwell Christian	USA	21.66		16
3	Smith Rutger	NED	21.19		14
4	Taylor Daniel	USA	20.86		12
5	Bartels Ralf	GER	19.95		10
6	Myerscough Carl	GBR	19.80		8

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