Sarah Mitton, of Canada, reacts after an attempt in the women's shot put final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

There was both joy and relief in being victorious for Sarah Mitton.

Mitton won her second consecutive women's shot put title at the world indoor track and field championships last weekend, with a top throw of 20.48 metres — 0.41 metres ahead of second place.

She had three 20-plus metre throws (20.36, 20.15 and 20.48) that were all good enough to win her gold in Nanjing, China.

"It's an emotional high winning a title," the Brooklyn, N.S., native said. "I think being able to go in as a defending champion, there was a lot more pressure and a lot more eyes on me this year. ... I knew that I was going in with a lot more to lose this year than I did the previous, and I think the emotion is a little bit of relief.

"Not in necessarily winning, but being able to go back out into a competition and depend on myself. I had a really long, really tough summer with some family issues and some personal stuff going on, and the Paris Olympics obviously not going the way I wanted it to.

"That was the first time in a long time that I didn't perform on kind of that global scene, and I worked so hard to change that."

The victory, however, did not come easy. The shot put was held at the same time as the heats for the men's 60 metres, women's 400, and men's 1,500, with the women not being able to throw during introductions and competition for those events.

"The competition was ridiculously long," Mitton's coach Richard Parkinson said. "At one point, there's like half an hour between rounds. So it really hurt the women and the competition."

Parkinson wasn't initially sure if Mitton's 20.36-metre second attempt, which took the lead from silver medallist Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands, would hold up with the strength of competition.

"The competition, after the second round, got bogged down and the girls were just getting iced out on being able to throw," he said. "So through all these stoppages, Sarah did a terrific job not just keeping mentally focused, but keeping her body moving, keeping it going, doing drills.

"She's just a professional. She's the world champion and she acted like it."

Mitton felt as though she could have reached the 21-metre mark had it not been for all the stoppages. The 28-year-old said the time between those rounds was typically how long it takes to make it through six throws.

She closed the indoor season after also setting a new Canadian indoor record of 20.68 on Feb. 7, matching her outdoor best, and finishing in the top three of all six competitions she threw in.

Now she looks ahead to the outdoor season, which is capped off by the world championships in September in Tokyo, Japan.

Mitton has earned gold in every major competition she's competed in except for the outdoor worlds — where she won silver in 2023 — and the Olympics. She has titles at the Commonwealth Games (2022), the NACAC championships (2022), the Pan Am Games (2023) and world indoors (2024, 2025) under her belt.

While gold in Tokyo is one goal, Mitton also has her eyes set on the 21-metre mark.

"I've always been one to have like a really big jump, and then I kind of catch up to it and then you'll have one throw that kind of shows you the potential," she said. "Then you have to work to bring up the bottom end. For me, I've been able to throw 20.68 indoor and outdoor and not be as consistent in the 20s as I'd like to be.

"I'm hoping that the next jump is well over 21. But I think those throws give me a lot of confidence moving forward."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025