Nigeria’s Stephen Mozia set a new lifetime best, world lead and Nigerian indoor Shot Put record with a heave of 21.11 metres at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee, USA on Saturday (30 January).
[link id=”878″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Stephen Mozia”], competing for the Garden City Track Club inside the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility, improved on his own national record of 21.03m set two weeks ago at the Commodore invitational indoor meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mozia started the evening with a modest 20.06m in the first round before improving to a monster 21.11m in the second round. After two foul throws, he completed the series with 20.69m and 20.73m in the 5th and last round respectively.
The 22-year-old mechanical engineering graduate from Cornell University in New York, who changed allegiance to [link id=”815″ tax=”category” text=”Nigeria” ] from the USA in 2013, holds the Nigerian outdoor Shot put record of 20.46m which he set in Eugene, Oregon on 11 June, 2014.
Mozia, a mechanical engineering graduate from Cornell University in New York, holds the Nigerian indoor and outdoor Shot put records / Photo Credit: Reuters
[link id=”7″ tax=”category” text=”Ghana”]’s [link id=”879″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Atsu Nyamadi”], a Junior at Middle Tennessee University, finished in 13th place with a best throw of 13.96m, while compatriot and [link id=”10880″ text=”Liquid Sports Ghana/Ethiopian Airlines Ghana male athlete of the year”], [link id=”876″ tax=”post_tag” text=”John Ampomah”] recorded no distance with two foul throws.
Mozia‘s early season form in 2016 has propelled him to the top of the world rankings in Shot put with a real prospect of taking the African record and a medal at the [link id=”315″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Rio 2016 Olympic Games”] later this year.
The African record of 21.97m and the world record of 23.12m has been held by [link id=”11″ tax=”category” text=”South Africa”]’s Janus Robberts since 2001 and American Randy Barnes since 1990 respectively.
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