Tom Walsh is ‘trying something new’ in his 2024 plans, talks mastering the mental game and NZ’s biggest man cave

Tom Walsh has put the finishing touches on what is probably New Zealand’s biggest man cave — though he won’t be able to use it for a while. A side project of the past few years for the shot put exponent and part-time chippie, the 80sq m “garden shed” on his Timaru block of land is finally complete.

It’s a relief to get it done — “like any good tradie I was running late,” Walsh says with a laugh — but the structure, which encompasses a gym and man cave, will be mostly empty next year.

That’s because Walsh is taking a significantly different approach to his 2024 season, one he hopes will lead to the ultimate success in Paris. Ahead of every Olympic year, there is a fine-tuning of schedules as athletes look to sharpen for the quadrennial showpiece.

But Walsh has opted for a big adjustment. For the first time in his career, the 31-year-old will miss most of the New Zealand summer, heading to Europe for a two-month block to take in the World Indoor Tour.

Walsh’s schedule is still to be finalised, but across January and February there are “gold”-level indoor events in Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Poland, France and Spain, along with another 16 on the second tier, before the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in early March. It means an extra seven weeks in the Northern Hemisphere — and away from home — but it is worth the stretch.

“I’m trying something new,” Walsh tells the Weekend Herald. “I’ve never done it before but it is going to be fun.”

Walsh wants to push himself with the extra intensity that competition can bring. Jacko Gill is a strong domestic rival — especially last season when he edged Walsh in two national events — but there is a gulf below the duo.

“In New Zealand there is only Jacko and myself,” says Walsh. “He does his schedule and I do mine and they don’t always line up. I love competing against the top guys. I always take a big step up from training. So it’s about just getting used to that again and comfortable again. I do this sport to challenge myself and to throw against the best.”

Walsh is recalibrating after a 2023 season full of highs and one obvious low. The Timaru product ticked most boxes. He was consistent, seven times exceeding 22m, a feat matched only twice across his career (2018 and 2019). That included some monster efforts, with the 22.69m throw at the Diamond League final in Eugene (the second-longest of his career) along with the 22.58m in London (fifth best), while he also took out seven international events, including the Diamond League Zagreb meet.

“It was probably an A season,” says Walsh. “Some really big throws, my highest rolling average; it was a good step up from last year.” But the asterisk that left a “bit of a sour taste” was an “underperformance” at the world championships. Walsh finished fourth in Budapest, the only time he missed the podium in 16 international competitions in 2023.

“I was capable of a lot more,” says Walsh, whose best was 22.05, trailing world record-holder Ryan Crouser (23.51), Italian bolter Leonardo Fabbri (22.34) and American Joe Kovacs (22.12m). He admitted mentally “he didn’t get it right on the day”. That will surprise, given his mindset has been regarded as a key strength over the years.

“My team does an outstanding job of getting me in great physical shape,” says Walsh. “I’ve got to make sure I look after the mental side and get that right. That’s always the challenging part; you think you’ve got it and then all of a sudden you don’t have it. So I need to keep working on it.”

It hurts that Walsh was flat when it mattered most but equally, he is not going to over-analyse.

“The tricky thing is, the rest of my year was outstanding so you don’t want to read too much into that one hour that didn’t quite go to plan,” explains Walsh. “In most other comps I overperformed, and my mental state was spot on. So you need to be careful to not try to find too much and find the nugget. Sometimes the nugget is not there; you just have to keep doing what you are doing and refine it a little bit.”

It doesn’t help that Walsh is competing in a golden era of men’s shotput, with eight or nine athletes capable of breaking 22m.

“It’s the most competitive it’s ever been,” says Walsh. “When I first started you could win meets with 21.20, 21.50. Now you probably won’t be in the top five. This generation has kept pushing the envelope.”

The other aspect has been his burgeoning rivalry with Gill that has fuelled local interest in the sport.

“Jacko has kept on getting a bit better every year,” says Walsh. “It is really important for me to have someone like Jacko around, and for the sport too. It’s very rare that you get two people from New Zealand in one event that are as good as [we are].”

The Aucklander provided an early-season spark, relegating Walsh to silver at the national championships and Sir Graeme Douglas events. “The ego took a hit, that’s for sure,” jokes Walsh. “But it just makes me have to focus a little bit more. I love competing against him.”

Walsh has been back in training for a month, after a six-week off-season break, which encompassed his wedding to long-time partner Dana in Christchurch.

“It was magic — we will probably never have all of our friends in one place again,” says Walsh. Walsh — who was a fulltime builder through 2017 — has also completed his construction project on their 10-acre property, which might include the country’s biggest man cave.

“It would be pushing it for sure,” says Walsh. “Forty square metres on the mezzanine floor, 40sq m on the gym floor. Definitely a contender.

The downstairs area will be used for workouts and training, including a throwing circle, while upstairs is purely recreation with a television lounge, a shuffleboard table and, ideally, a golf stimulator.

“It’s a good spot to chill out and have a few beers,” says Walsh.

He’ll also exhibit a collection of singlets — both his and other shotput athletes’ — as well as jerseys from other sports. It has been behind schedule but now needs only a final inspection.

“One day I definitely want to spend a lot more time in there, though it might be a bit empty for the next four or five years.”

That’s because Walsh is still striving for more as he eyes Paris — and beyond.

“I’m still loving it, still wanting to make that shot go a long way,” says Walsh. “I love the challenge of throwing far — it’s like a drug to me. I know that I am not done yet; there are things in shot put that I want to achieve that I haven’t achieved so you just have to keep knocking on the door.”

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.