Wearing his heart on his sleeve and holding a 6kg steel ball in his hand‚ Kyle Blignaut clinched victory with his penultimate throw at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, on Tuesday. The 18-year-old’s triumph gave SA their first gold on the opening day of the competition‚ but it required serious bottle. Blignaut had taken the early lead with his opening two attempts of 20.89m and 21.12m‚ but in the fifth round American Adrian Piperi‚ 19‚ unleashed an enormous 22.06m that not only gave him the lead but also rocketed him to fifth on the all-time Under-20 world list. Blignaut retaliated immediately‚ stepping into the circle and heaving the shot 1cm further. "Adrian brought the best out of me with that big shot‚" Blignaut was quoted as saying on the IAAF’s competition website. Odysseas Mouzenidis of Greece‚ also 19‚ took the bronze exactly 1m behind the South African on 21.07m. When they graduate to senior competition these three will have to deal with a shot that...
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