26 Jul 2015

Valerie Adams second in London

2:33 pm on 26 July 2015

New Zealand's Olympic champion shotputter Valerie Adams has taken second place at the London meeting of the Diamond League.

Val Adams

Photo: AFP

In front of an Olympic Park crowd of more than 50,000, Adams threw 18.59 metres to take second place behind Michelle Carter of the United States, who threw 19.74m.

Adam's result was an improvement from her Paris Diamond League outing earlier in June, when on her return to competition following surgery, the 30 year old tasted defeat for the first time in 57 meetings.

Adams not only fell short of a 57th straight victory, but could finish only fifth with a best of 18.79 metres

The World Champion, who has a personal best of 21.24m and a season best of 18.79, said she enjoyed competing in London but was not happy with her performance.

"Michelle Carter's been in pretty good shape this year, I've come back from surgery ... my body's slowing me down."

"It's been tough, I'm not made of metal, I am human, I feel things, I've just got to keep fighting, I've just got to keep working," Adams said.

She said she had upcoming competitions in Stockholm and Poland but when asked if she would compete in next month's World Champs in Beijing she said, "I don't know".

Adams is the first woman to win four successive world titles and is a two-time Olympic and three-time Commonwealth champion.