Olympic Women’s Shot — Ogunleye Made The Most Of It

THE EXPECTED SHOWDOWN between two-time world champion Chase Jackson and world indoor winner Sarah Mitton never materialized, but the competition still provided plenty of drama thanks to Yemisi Ogunleye’s sixth-round fireworks, producing the day’s only 20-meter mark.

The first major twist came in the prelims when Jackson didn’t advance. After two fouls, the American Record-holder managed only 57-9 (17.60) on her final attempt — more than 8 feet off her season’s best. This left her in 17th place, well short of advancing.

Mitton faced a similar disappointment in the next day’s final. Distracted by a wet circle from rain early in the competition, she could only reach 56-3¼ (17.15) and 57-4¼ (17.48) on her first two throws. Overwhelmed by the moment, the ’23 World Champs silver medalist fell into a foul on her last attempt and wound up in 12th.

“The first couple of rounds after the rain, I felt like after the last two warm up rounds I sort of lost my feeling,” said Mitton, who leads the ’24 world list with her 67-10¼ (20.68) from May, told the CBC. “I saw a couple of the girls fall. I tried to block it out. I ended up swinging a little too easy on both of them. By the time I got to the third round, I feel like I had it back but just like Tokyo, I ended up fouling and I feel like it would have put me in contention.”

Into this window of opportunity, New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche took the lead in the second round at 64-3 (19.58). After opening with a foul, Germany’s Ogunleye, just 7th on the T&FN formchart, moved into the silver-medal slot with a 64-1¾ (19.55), while American Jaida Ross sat 3rd at the halfway point thanks to a 63-3¼ (19.28) opener.

China’s Jiayuan Song came alive in the fourth round, launching the ball out to 63-4¾ (19.32) to move into 3rd, ahead of Ross.

Wesche, who finished 6th at the Tokyo Olympics, consolidated her lead with a PR in the fifth round, 65-2 (19.86) and appeared poised to grab the third Kiwi gold in this event, following ’08 and ’12 triumphs by Valerie Adams.

But Ogunleye had other plans, using the penultimate throw of the evening to unleash a 65-7½ (20.00) winner, tearfully falling to her knees when the mark was posted. Wesche couldn’t top that, reaching 64-6 ¾ (19.68) on her final attempt.

“My goal…