Posted: March 8, 2006

Athletics: Cantwell looks to retain world indoor title

MOSCOW, Russia - Christian Cantwell enjoyed his finest season in 2004 that ended with him being ranked as the #1 men's shot putter in the world. The highlight of his season came in winning the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Cantwell will attempt to hang on to his world title Friday in Moscow against many of the world's finest shot putters at the 2006 World Indoor Championships.

Cantwell posted the four top outdoor throws in the world that year and set a new outdoor personal best of 22.54 meters/73 feet 11.50 inches in winning the adidas Oregon Track Classic. He threw 21.95m/72-0.25 early in the year at Columbia, which was the best indoor shot put performance by an American since 1989. His remarkable 14-meet winning streak that season ended with his fourth-place finish at the 2004 Olympic Trials.

In 2005, Cantwell won the USA Outdoor title (21.64m/71-0) and finished fifth at the World Outdoor Championships. He ended the season ranked #6 in the world and #4 in the U.S. He was the runner-up at the AT&T USA Indoor Championships two weeks ago with a best throw of 21.10m/69-2.75.

The following is a Q&A with Cantwell.

Q: What do you recall about winning the World Indoor title in 2004?

A: It was basically the coming out of my career at that point. I don't remember it too much because it sort of just happened. I was just so young and excited about everything that I remember it was a great experience and that everything went just about according to plan. There wasn't much pressure, although I was the leader coming in, because I was so young. I remember being very excited and thrilled that I won.

Q: How did the competition go for you?

A: My first throw was 20.98, I think, and Reese (Hoffa) threw 21.07 and he took the lead. My next throw I threw 21.49 and nobody came close after that.

Q: You and Hoffa are teammates again and favored to do well. Do you see you guys going 1-2 in Moscow?

A: Every year we talk about a sweep either outdoors or indoors, and if everything goes the way it should we should compete well and be in the running for something like that. We're used to competing at this level. Every meet in the U.S. is against good people and there are good people here too. It's not going to be a walk in the park by any means.

Q: What having you been working on lately to improve your performance?

A: I'm in good shape now after coming off a knee surgery. I'm not even supposed to be competing right now. So I'm just happy to be where I'm at and have the opportunity to compete in this championship, and I think I'm just coming into form and it seems like I'm peaking at exactly the right time. Every week I seem to be getting a little better, so I think I'm in the best shape for this early in the season that I've been in a long time. I just keep doing everything the way that I always have and once the knee gets completely healed I'll be in really good shape.

Q: What are the details of the knee injury?

A: It was basically a degenerative thing. The cartilage on my femur bone had been chipping away for the last two years and the doctors did a procedure where they cleared off a lot of the fragmented cartilage and they broke the bone a bunch of times to spur healing. The doctor told me initially that he wanted me to wait a year before I did anything, but this is my income and I told him that I couldn't do that, so I waited for four months before I did anything. I didn't walk for a month. Four months into it I started throwing and I didn't start lifting until about five months after the surgery. It's been a slow process and there's been a lot of pain involved.

Q: Where's your confidence level coming into this competition?

A: Right now it's through the roof. The last two weeks I've been getting better and my technique is starting to round into shape and I'm starting to get some good strength back. It's not as good as it's ever been, but I'm also a realist and I understand that this year has been tough with the injury and trying to fight back. I've accomplished most everything I've wanted to this year. I just wanted to make the team and throw over 21 meters and I've done that. I'm just happy to be here and it's nice to be in a position where if I do great, that's great, and if not I'm happy to have made it this far.

Q: Your trajectory in throwing the shot seems to be much higher than anyone else I've seen. What are your thoughts on that?

A: First of all, I don't mean for it to be that high. That's not actually a good thing. Whenever it's down a little bit is when I have good throws. It's something the last few weeks that we've been working on and we've been getting some good throws off trajectory-wise. The higher it goes, once you go past a certain angle, it starts going shorter and that's something we've been working on. You'll notice that when I have good throws now they're a little lower. Some guys like Reese, his bad throws are low and when he gets them up higher they go better. Mine are high and when they go lower they're better. We've found a few little things in my technique that are helping to bring them down a little bit.

Q: How is your height (6 feet, 5 inches) a help or hindrance to your throwing?

A: My height and weight is definitely an advantage because I weigh a lot more than the ball does, and anytime the weight of you is greater than the weight of the shot it's a good thing. With that said, it makes the ring a little smaller for me than it is for Reese, whose six feet tall. He can get down and use a little more leverage from his side, and that's why I'm a little more upright than him and don't get as much knee bend. Once I get my mass moving, if I can get it moving in the right direction and stay in the ring, then it's going to go. I don't have to do as many things perfect with my technique. My technique is basically if I get it 80% right it's going to go far. For other guys like Reese or Adam (Nelson) they need to be 100% on because when they're down, they're way down. When they're up they're way up. My ups are way up and my downs are just a little bit lower than my ups because I just have to get somewhat close with my technique.

Q: What are your goals for the rest of 2006 following this weekend?

A: I think my best time is certainly going to come. Last year outdoors I was ready to throw a PR, but I never got the opportunity. For some reason I was throwing the ball high. Later on in practices I was throwing the ball low and getting it out there at really far distances, further than what I was throwing when I threw my PR. For this coming outdoor season if I can get back in good shape and get healed up, I think I can get back to throwing record distances. The way indoors is going I'm way ahead of where I was last year after all the setbacks, so I'm really excited.

Q: What would it mean to you to successfully defend your world title here in Moscow?

A: I've told my friends that I've done it once and if I were to do it again it would be great. I'm grateful for doing it in 2004 and every meet I compete in I expect to win, so if I win again it wouldn't be as big a deal to me as it was then, but I'd still appreciate it just as much.

Krummenacker, Williams named team captains

2006 USA Indoor 800m runner-up David Krummenacker and 2005 World Outdoor 100m gold medalist Lauryn Williams have been elected by their peers to be the men's and women's respective team captains for the 2006 World Indoor Championships.

The 2006 World Indoor Championships, which begin on Friday and continue through Saturday, will be televised on OLN in the U.S. from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, March 12.

For more information on Team USA at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, visit USATF.org.

Comment on this story.

Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest