Cantwell wins World Championship

BERLIN — Former Missouri Tiger and Olympic silver medalist Christian Cantwell won the shot put World Championship at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Berlin after tossing 22.03 meters (72-feet, 3-½ inches) in his fifth attempt Saturday.

His mark is a new season-best, shattering his previous distance of 21.81 meters, set at the Aviva London Grand Prix three weeks ago. The event title is the first-ever Outdoor IAAF World Championship for Cantwell, adding to his two Indoor IAAF World Championships, in 2004 and 2008.

Cantwell defeated, among 10 others, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Tomasz Majewski in the event. The Polish star finished in second place with at 21.91 meters. Cantwell’s winning distance is also the best in the world this season and just shy of his personal-best mark of 22.54 meters, set at the Adidas Classic in 2004.

"During the competition, I felt like I was rushing my throw, so I told myself to just slow down," Cantwell said. "I knew that when it left my hand that (the winning throw) was a good one."

"I was pretty happy at the quality of the competition, and I hope everyone watching enjoyed it as well. It's a pretty awesome feeling to be in this deep of a competition."

As the first competitor to throw in the event, Cantwell opened the competition with a throw of 21.54 meters, the best of any athlete during the first round of throws. That mark stood as the best in the competition until the fourth round when Majewski threw 21.68 meters.

First up in the fifth round, Cantwell launched his event-winning throw. No competitor threw better than 21.91 meters (71 feet, 10 ¾ inches) in each of the final two rounds of throws, solidifying Cantwell’s spot on top of the leaderboard.

 For a video interview with Cantwell, click here. (Caution: Contains strong language.)

For complete results, visit the IAAF’s official live result Web site.