He say’s it was his worst throw in almost a decade, but Tim Nedow’s opening round throw of 18.22 metres at the Canadian Championships was enough to secure his seventh straight national shot put title. Not one to settle, the Brockville native increased his margin of victory on each of his next two throws, culminating in a 20.54 metre heave in the third round before he decided call it quits for the day and save his energy for next week’s Pan American Games in Peru.
“Today I was just trying to go out and defend my title,” said the defending Pan Am silver medalist. “I got another throw over 20 metes, which is good. It’s always nice to be over 20 and now I’m getting ready to go down to Peru and hopefully better this mark.”
While the Pan American Games kicked off this past weekend, the Athletics portion of the multi-sport games gets under way in earnest next Tuesday. For Nedow, the shot put competition gets going August 7 where he will contend with Brazilian Darlan Romani, who has the second farthest throw in the world this year along with a strong stable of American shot putters.
Sunday’s victory also secured Nedow’s spot on Canada’s team for the upcoming World Championships in Doha. Coming off a 16th place finish two years ago in London, the goal for the two time Commonwealth medalist is a spot in the final and ultimately a place on the podium. However, he knows it won’t be easy.
“Looking at the [world] list this year, I think it’s going to be a really tough Worlds. I think it’s going to be the toughest ever, so I’m going to not only have to be in good shape, but I’m probably going to have to be in the best shape ever. It’s gonna take 21 mid, maybe more and I think that’s the shape I’m gonna have to get in, which I think I can do.”