Jacko Gill of New Zealand, who barely advanced to the final from the qualifying rounds, set the early standard in the shot put final, reaching 20.24m on his first attempt, a world leading mark for juniors, and extending that to 20.76m in the second round while most of the rest of the field was unable to reach the 20m tape.

The sole exception to that in the early was Yongheng Ding of China, who tossed the iron ball 19.69m in the first round and reached 20.14m in the second, a PB for the young Chinese thrower.

Bozidar Antunovic of Serbia, who started with a 19.90m put in the first round, finally broke the stalemate in the fourth, with the field thinned to eight and both Gill and Ding beginning to foul as they reached for longer marks. Antunovic finally found his form, reaching 20.20m on his fourth attempt and following up with puts of 20.16m and 20.10m. That put him in second, but Gill remained the leader to the end.

The relatively slight Gill, all of fifteen years old, looked an unlikely shot putter, particularly between the towering Antunovic and Ding. "I was the young guy coming into the competition," said Gill, "and I'm pleased to be able to pull this off since I’m one of the smaller guys in the field."

Parker Morse for the IAAF