Pan Am Games: Canadian Armstrong retains shot title with record throw

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters): Canadian shot putter Dylan Armstrong came to Mexico to boost his training routine late in the season and walked off with the Pan-American gold medal after a record-breaking throw on Tuesday.
Armstrong, silver medallist in the Daegu world championships, won with a fifth throw of 21.30 right after being overtaken by his closest challenger Carlos Veliz and retained his Pan-am title.
The Cuban had just put the shot 20.76, four centimetres further than Armstrong's earlier competition-leading throw.
The 30-year-old Armstrong broke the record set eight years ago by American Reese Hoffa of 20.95 in Santo Domingo.
Asked to comment on his response to Veliz's throw, Armstrong said: "Yes, it took me a while to get into my rhythm," he told reporters. "My head's not in competition mode, I just went through the motions."
The Games, a quadrennial event involving the countries from Canada down to Argentina and Chile, are being held later in the year than usual and Armstrong had been concentrating on his training at home after the world championships from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4.
"I was training anyway so it's no different to do that at home or here, it was another opportunity to compete," he said at the brand new Telmex stadium in this western Mexican city.
Winning was a pleasing bonus.
"It means a lot, a medal's a medal," he said.
"With a championship medal, it makes a difference going to London," he added of next year's Olympic Games, but the modest giant does not court fame.
"I don't see myself (as being) in the spotlight, I just keep my head down and do my thing. Don't get me wrong, I like the pressure."
Argentine German Lauro, who threw 20.41 metres just two centimetres short of his personal best, won the bronze medal in a competition in which Americans Russell Winger and Noah Bryant disappointed.