Brittany Crew (23) set her sights on putting a smile of the face of her coach Richard Parkinson, who was unable to attend the Women’s shot put final at London Stadium earlier this past week.
Crew managed to have her best throw of 18.21 metres at the track and field world championships.
She managed to finish sixth in the field of 12 and in the past Canada has never had a woman finish among the top eight in the event at the World Competition.
Parkinson was forced to attend due to be quarantined with the norovirus that hit nine (9) members of the Canadian team.
He thought he would only miss Tuesday’s qualifying round, but with as many as 30 athletes at the same central London hotel falling ill with the stomach virus, the quarantine period was extended to 48 hours and officially ended his 48-hour quarantine ended at 3 a.m. Thursday.
“It was sad because I want him to be here. We’ve done this together,” Crew told Canadian Press afterward. “But I have to focus on myself, first of all.
“I wish I was there to feel the excitement of the stadium and the crowd,” Parkinson said from the central London hotel, where more than 30 athletes from several teams have fallen ill. “But, I think tonight’s competition shows that there will be plenty more opportunities in the future for me and Canadians to cheer on Brittany.”
Crew comes from Mississauga Ontario and threw 17.52 on her first attempt Wednesday before her 18.21 and moved into fifth spot.
She managed to advance to the final eight and three more throws after posting 17.71 on her third attempt.
Crew advanced to Wednesday’s final managing a throw of 18.01 earlier in the week and no different from past events she was relayed coaching tips through an elaborate chain of Canadian team members.
The team’s biomechanist Dana Way shot video with his high-definition camera, then played it back, shooting the screen with his smart phone.
He in turn sent the video to Parkinson. Parkinson then texted his thoughts to shot putter Tim Nedow, who sat in the stadium’s coach section. He’d relay the comments to Crew.
The towel is a trick of theirs and Crew lays a towel at the back of the circle which she trains her eyes on until the very last second as it seems to keep her from turning her head too quickly, which costs precious torque.
Bounce-back effort
Crew arrived in London having met the world qualifying standard of 17.75 six times, including her throw of 18.32 to win at the Canadian championships in July.
On May 20, Crew improved on her national record with a throw of 18.58 in Tucson, Ariz. Two days earlier, she broke Julie Labonte’s mark of 18:31 that stood since 2011.
Crew finished 9th in her qualifying group at the Rio Olympics, but Moorcroft believes Wednesday’s bounce-back effort sets her up well for the balance of her career.
Elsewhere, Lijiao Gong of China won the gold medal with a throw of 19.94. Anita Marton of Hungary was second (19.49) and United States-record holder Michelle Carter’s third throw of 19.14 was good enough to win a bronze medal.
Carter, who became the first American woman to win shot put gold last summer at the Rio Olympics, is the daughter of former NFL defensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion Michael Carter, a silver medallist in shot put at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
