Jessica Schilder delivered the second medal to the Dutch athletics team on the second day of the World Championships in Athletics. The 23-year-old athlete from Volendam won bronze in the shot put with a Dutch record of 19.77 metres. She came that distance in two of her six attempts. On the opening day, the relay team took the mixed silver in the 4×400 meters.
American Chase Ealey took the gold with a punch of 20.49. The Chinese Olympic champion Lijiao Gong won the silver with 20.39. Canadian Sarah Mitton also scored 19.77, but because Schilder had twice that distance put on the scoreboard, the third place was hers.
Schilder is the first Dutch woman to receive a World Cup medal in the shot put. In the men’s race, Rutger Smith preceded her with silver in 2005 and bronze in 2007.
The muscular athlete from North Holland made an international breakthrough this year. In March she also won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade with a distance of 19.48. Shortly before that, she had surprised the athletics world and herself with a 19.72 meter punch in the indoor hall of Apeldoorn. She suddenly led the world ranking, but the distance was not recognized as a Dutch record because there were too few participants in that competition.
At the beginning of the year, Schilder immediately made a name for himself by improving the Dutch record for the first time in years. She came 30 centimeters further than Corrie de Bruin, who set the national record at 18.97 24 years ago in Valencia. Painter punched 19.26.
She steadily continued her progression in the great outdoors by breaking the Dutch record almost every game. At the Dutch National Championships in Apeldoorn at the end of June she set it at 19.68 meters, and then took it again in Eugene.