Rush climbs to 12th after setting Gibraltar women's shot put record

Ella Rush entered the shot put on Tuesday evening sitting thirteenth in the heptathlon standings after two events.
With a personal best of 12.88m in the shot put, achieved at the Utilita Arena Birmingham, Birmingham (GBR) in 2022, and having previously thrown 13.62m in the 3kg shot put at Østerbro Stadion, København (DEN) in 2020, Ella was hoping to climb the rankings in the event. She also had the Gibraltar national record in her sights.
The current Gibraltar women's shot put record stood at 8.50m, set by 14-year-old Nicole Barker in 1992. Ella's season's best was 12.63m, achieved at the R.A. "Murray" Fasken Indoor Track Stadium, College Station, Texas (USA), in February this year, just weeks before she was confirmed as eligible to compete for Gibraltar.
Ella had also produced a throw of 12.58m at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships in Auburn, USA, for the University of Georgia in May, where she won the silver medal in the heptathlon.
With rain pouring down over Scotstoun Stadium, Ella began her competition with technical issues affecting the scoreboards.
Her first attempt saw her throw 10.53m, breaking the Gibraltar national record that had stood since 1992.
She improved to 10.91m with her second attempt, although this remained some way short of both her personal and season's bests. The throw left her fifth in Group B, with Jersey's Lucy Woodward maintaining twelfth place overall with her own effort.
After most athletes had completed their second attempts, the leading throw stood at 13.87m by Australia's Mia Scerri in Group A, while Briana Stephenson of New Zealand led Group B with 11.96m.
Ella's distance was still only the eleventh best among the fifteen competitors, meaning she needed to improve with her final throw.
She did exactly that, recording 11.64m with her third and final attempt, putting pressure on the remaining athletes in Group B to better her mark. Although still below her season's best, the throw secured 637 points.
Her total rose to 2,400 points after three events, lifting her provisionally into twelfth place while she awaited Lucy Woodward's final throw. When the Jersey athlete failed to improve, Ella remained third in Group B and held on to twelfth place overall. Maddie Wilson topped Group B with 12.10m, followed by Briana Stephenson with 11.96m, while Ella finished third in the group with 11.64m. Her best throw remained comfortably above the previous Gibraltar national record, although still below the distance she recorded at the SEC Championships.
Ella finished tenth overall in the shot put, with only athletes from Australia, England, Northern Ireland and New Zealand ranked ahead of her.
Competitors from Jersey, Canada, Cameroon and Scotland finished directly behind her in the event.
Twelfth overall after three events, Ella now turned her attention to the 200m later on Tuesday evening, where she would be hoping for another personal best.