By Canadian Press

Canada’s Mitton looking for another big showing at nationals with worlds in sight

Jul 26, 2023 | 8:26 AM

Sarah Mitton is back where she had her best performance, and she’s looking to do it again.

The Brooklyn, N.S., native will be competing in women’s shot put at the Canadian track and field championships, which go from Thursday to Sunday in Langley, B.C.

Mitton set her personal best and a Canadian record with a throw of 20.33 metres at last year’s nationals in Langley as part of a breakout 2022 season.

“I’m really looking forward to nationals,” the 27-year-old said. “I feel like I’m in exactly the same place, if not a little ahead of where I was last year in terms of consistency, all of my training has been much more consistent than it was this time last year.

“It was super exciting last year because the distances that I was throwing, they were all new to me. I haven’t PB’d yet this season but I did PB at nationals last year, it’s a really good environment to throw far.”

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Mitton won nationals, finished fourth at the world championships — she had the same top throw as bronze-medallist Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands, but Schilder had the next furthest throw — and claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games and the NACAC championships last year.

After winning her first Diamond League meet on June 15, she’s locked in on redemption at worlds.

“I’m definitely motivated to not let myself be in that situation again,” Mitton said about the upcoming worlds in August. “Another year of evolution, another year of growth. I think that I’m very much situated to be on that podium and I’m hungry to not end the season in fourth place.”

With her season best currently standing at 19.83 m, the goal at nationals is to be around her personal best to feel confident she could do the same at worlds.

“I do feel like all of the work is there and I’ve seen the pieces that are slowly coming together again and I think that I probably will throw pretty well,” Mitton said. “Very much looking forward to trying to get back up over 20 (metres) in anticipation of worlds in a month so I’d like to see that number pop up.”

Mitton’s coach Richard Parkinson said the goal is to win gold at worlds.

“But we also know what it’s going to take to win gold,” he said. “If you’re throwing 20.50 metres, I think you’re going to be definitely in the top two positions.”

The turnaround in performance for the world’s No. 2 shot putter came following the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished 28th, a result she called “quite devastating at the time.”

“In hindsight looking at it, it was probably exactly what I needed to propel myself forward for the next year,” Mitton said.

Mitton did some work both mentally and physically that has gone a long way in helping her gain confidence.

“Coming into the fall of that season, we worked on a lot of mental performance pieces like visualization before and after the throws, breathing techniques to control your nerves in those situations.

“The biggest thing we learned is I went from probably fouling most of my throws at practice because you’re working on different things, and it became a band-aid excuse, to, ‘I will only mark or measure a throw in practice if I save it’ … it just became this habit that got ingrained.”

However, the flipped switch in confidence came at the indoor world championships in March 2022. Although she finished seventh in the final, she threw over 19 metres for the second time in her career.

“That was her moment where she was like, ‘Wow, I’m really one of them,'” Parkinson said. “After world indoors last year and getting onto the Diamond League circuit, she developed a lot of good friendships (with) the women that she competes against … they’re all very, very supportive of each other.

“There’s a comfort level there that’s been established. So not only does she feel, ‘Hey, competitively I can compete against these women, I can beat these women,’ but she also is amongst them. It’s a nice, competitive environment.”

Entering this off-season, which Mitton says starts with going back to the drawing board to find any adjustments that could be made, she said all that’s changed is her confidence level.

“I feel like I’m right where I belong on the world stage in that top group of girls, feeling very, very positive about my place there,” Mitton said. “Just being able to be a competitor and not feeling nervous or anxious at those big meets.

“I show up and it’s what I do every day. There’s no longer that kind of inexperience.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2023.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press