Sarah Mitton wins shot put gold for Canada at World Indoor Championships

Nova Scotia’s Sarah Mitton won the first medal at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, and it’s gold for Canada. Mitton threw a season’s best 20.22 meters on her final attempt.

Mitton got off to a great start, but a personal best throw of 20.19 meters from Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye on her first attempt moved Mitton down into the bronze medal position.

The 27-year-old responded with a 20.20 meter throw on her fourth attempt to climb back into the pole position with two throws to come. Mitton held on and even improved her mark to 20.22m on her final throw to win her first global gold medal.

“To be called a world champion, it feels amazing,” Mitton told Canadian Running. “I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of hearing it.”

“This indoor season has been a big learning curve for me, and today I feel like I learned how to respond to get back to the top,” says Mitton.

This has given Mitton the confidence she needs, looking ahead to Paris. “I’m going to need a world outdoor gold and Olympic gold to complete my set now,” she laughs.

Immediately upon winning gold, Mitton was congratulated by her shot put rival and close friend, Chase (Ealey) Jackson of Team USA. Jackson beat Mitton last summer to win gold in Budapest and finished with the bronze behind Mitton and Ogunleye today.

“Chase is one of my close friends, and she was the first one to congratulate me,” says Mitton. “She’s definitely gracious in defeat.”

“I feel like I’ve been the underdog on the shot put scene for awhile. This is the first time I’ve had a PB on the day of the meet.”

World indoor shot put champion @MittonSarah on her 🥇 performance ‼️ #WICGlasgow24 pic.twitter.com/BccxTIR59l

— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) March 1, 2024

Mitton was one of six Canadian athletes in action on Friday morning at the World Indoor Championships. Following her medal-winning performance was Edmonton’s Malachi Murray, who was one of two men advancing out of Heat 2 in the men’s 60m to the semi-final. Murray ran 6.64 seconds, his second-fastest time of the season to book his ticket into tonight’s semi-final.

Murray will line up against world 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles in Heat 3 of the 60m semi-finals. “I think I need to do what I am capable of doing,” says Murray on what it will take to advance. “I have a little more confidence now, so I just need to execute my race plan.”

Murray will be one of five Canadian athletes in action in the evening session; his semi-final heat will start at 2:45 p.m. ET. Also competing is a quartet of 1,500m athletes: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Kieran Lumb, Lucia Stafford and Simone Plourde.