Shot put star Sarah Mitton sees confidence soar with latest Canadian record effort

Glenroy Gilbert covered a lot of ground last weekend walking to various events at the Canadian track and field championships. On Saturday, the Athletics Canada head coach was fixated on women's shot put and the work of 2020 Olympian Sarah Mitton.

With the crowd cheering in Langley, B.C., the 26-year-old Mitton followed a couple of fouls by eclipsing the 20-metre mark for the first time on her sixth and final throw to improve her Canadian record to 20.33 at McLeod Athletic Park Stadium.

"That final throw looked spectacular," Gilbert said this week. "When she started to spin it looked like it would be something extraordinary, and it certainly was."

Mitton, who hails from Brooklyn, N.S. and trains in Toronto, arrived in B.C. fresh off an 18.98 effort from her Diamond League debut on June 16 in Oslo, Norway, and had thrown over 19 metres eight times her previous nine meets, including her previous Canadian mark of 19.58.

"Her confidence is through the roof right now," Gilbert said. "She went to World Indoors [in March] and performed well — 19.02 in the final — and I think that set the tone for her outdoor season. She understands the event and feels she can perform with the best in the world. She's in a good place [entering the July 15-24 world championships]."

Mitton will be the lone Canadian competing Thursday at BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm — the final Diamond League meet before worlds — which is available to stream on CBCsports.ca, CBC Sports app and CBC Gem at 2 p.m. ET.

She climbed three spots to ninth in the world rankings with Saturday's memorable throw, the third longest of the season behind American Chase Ealey, who threw 20.51 on Sunday at the U.S. championships, and China's Song Jiayuan (20.38).

After Stockholm,