New Mexico's Chase Ealey repeats as shot put world champion

Chase Ealey no longer runs the 100-meter dash, as she did with such great success for Los Alamos High School a decade ago.

Even so, the speed with which she’s approaching track-and-field immortality is blinding.

Ealey on Saturday won her second consecutive gold medal at the World Track & Field championships in Budapest, Hungary, topping the international field with a throw of 20.43 meters (67 feet, 0½ inches).

Her winning throw was a season best and just short of the personal best of 20.51 meters (67-3½) set at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she became the first American to win the event.

The world record is 22.63 meters (74-3), set by the Soviet Union’s Natalya Lisovksaya in 1987. The U.S. record of 20.63 (67-8¼), set by Michelle Carter at the 2016 Olympics, might well be within Ealey’s reach.

“it’s even more satisfying than last year,” Ealey, 29, said afterward, “because I’ve struggled to get my technique sorted and get everything right. So for it to come together at the right time is perfect.”

How remarkable an athlete is Ealey?

At the 2012 Class 4A New Mexico track and field championships, Ealey won three individual events — the shot put, the javelin, and yes, the 100 meters — and ran legs in Los Alamos’ winning 4-by-100 and 4-by-200 relays for a total 26 points. All by herself, she would have placed seventh.

She won the 100 meters at state four years in a row. She also excelled at basketball and volleyball for LAHS.

At Oklahoma State she was a three-time All-American and still holds school shot put records indoors and outdoors.

Ealey opened her series in Budapest with a throw of 20.35 (66-9¼), which would have won her the gold medal had she not made another attempt. She topped that mark on her fifth throw of the series before fouling on her final attempt.

Canada’s Sarah Mitton placed second with a best of 20.08 meters (65-10½). China’s Lijiao Gong took the bronze with a toss of 19.69 (64-7¼).

Gong has medaled in eight consecutive World Championships.

The United States’ Maggie Ewen placed sixth with a best of 19.51 (64-0¼).

In a 2019 Albuquerque Journal story in advance of Ealey’s first appearance at the World Championships — she finished seventh that year — she said she’d actually hoped to focus on the sprints, or perhaps on volleyball, in college.

But the shot put, she said, “was the direction everyone was pushing me, … it was something I really fell in love with eventually.”