Video: Chase Ealey makes history as first American woman to win shot put world title

For the first time in history, an American woman is a shot put world champion.

Chase Ealey won Saturday night’s shot put final at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, thanks to a first attempt of 20.49 meters. She is the first women’s shot put world champion to win on her first attempt, according to Olympic sport historian Bill Mallon. (A video highlight of Ealey’s victory is embedded above.)

With the win, Ealey is the first American woman to win a shot put world title since the event debuted in 1983. (In comparison, the U.S. has claimed nine of the 17 world titles ever awarded in men’s shot put.)

Ealey is also the first American to win a world title at these 2022 World Championships, the first time the event has been held on U.S. soil.

China’s Gong Lijiao, the two-time defending world champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist, finished second with her best throw coming on her fifth attempt (20.39m). The Netherlands’ Jessica Schilder finished third with a national record of 19.77m.

The other American women in the final, Jessica Woodward and Maggie Ewen, finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

Ealey’s world championship win marks the end of a rollercoaster last year for the 27-year-old from Los Alamos, New Mexico.

After dealing with a long case of Covid-19, Ealey didn’t qualify for the Tokyo Olympics last summer, finishing fifth at U.S. Olympic Trials. After a training session with Great Britain’s Sophie McKinna in January, Ealey decided to relocate from Arizona to England in order to train with coach Paul Wilson at the City of York Athletic Club. She set a personal best of 20.51 meters in June to win the 2022 U.S. national title.

Ealey’s winning throw of 20.49 is the third farthest by an American woman,