New Zealand's Tom Walsh nails a big throw en route to the gold medal int he shot put at the indoor world championships in Portland.

New Zealand's Tom Walsh has obliterated the men's shot put field and made an Olympic-sized statement at the world indoor athletics championships in Portland.

Walsh stormed to his first global gold medal with a series of standout throws that left the field wallowing in his wake at the Oregon Convention Centre, and sets up the prospect of a Kiwi double in the discipline with Valerie Adams aiming for her fourth world indoor title on Sunday.

The 24-year-old part-time builder from Christchurch nailed five straight throws over the 21-metre mark, with a record-shattering best of 21.78m with his sixth and final attempt, to coast to a significant victory against a field that simply could not live with him.

Walsh finished 89cm clear of his nearest competitor, Romania's Andrei Gag who managed a best throw of 20.89m in the second round. Croatia's Filip Mihaljevic was third with 20.87m. Fellow Kiwi Jacko Gill finished ninth with a best throw of 19.93m.

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"I felt pretty confident," Walsh told Stuff from Portland, where he was just about to join some friends for a celebration dinner. "I knew I was in really good shape. I had nerves, but not too many and I controlled them really well. My first throw (20.38m) was nerves, but I just needed to get one out there, and after that normal throwing resumed.

"I felt like I got in my groove and started to throw really well, and then I just kept on building and building."

Walsh had the five best throws of the competition starting with his second round of 21.60m, which was followed by 21.40m, 21.64m, 21.49m and 21.78m in a remarkably consistent series.

He shattered his own New Zealand and Oceania indoor records throughout his series and also nailed the world's best throw of the year with that final attempt. It was also a major improvement on the bronze medal he won at the 2014 indoor championships, and tops the silver he claimed at the Commonwealth Games that same year.

"I knew anything over 21.50 was going to be pretty competitive if not good enough. But to throw five over 21.40 in a world championship is ridiculous and amazing. I'm over the moon about it. It's unreal."

He also said the special feeling of finally being a world champion on the back of so much hard work to get there was slowly starting to sink in. "I had the shivers when I was on the podium before, and people that didn't know you before want to talk to you now which is interesting. It's an amazing feeling, for sure."

Walsh also laid a massive thank-you at the feet of his close-knit team. "From my physio, to my sports psychologist, to my throws coach Dale [Stevenson], and also my old coach Ian Baird who still helps out, it's a team thing. Without all those guys guiding me it would be impossible to do what I do. It's awesome to have them behind me."

And the big Kiwi, after laying down an emphatic marker for Rio that establishes him as a medal contender on the Olympic stage, admitted it would be something special if Adams could complete a golden Kiwi double on Sunday.

"Hey, put it this way it would make us the best shot put country in the world. How good does that sound?"

Stop it Tom!!! Final round 21.78m!! What an amazing competition from Tom Walsh #portland2016 — Athletics NZ (@AthleticsNZ) March 19, 2016

Meanwhile, veteran middle-distance star Nick Willis made it safely through to the final of the 1500m with a well calculated run in his heat.

Running in the second of two heats, the 32-year-old Olympic silver medallist of 2008 knew the opening race had been run slowly, and a top-six finish would do the trick at a faster clip.

Willis appeared to run well within himself, and came home a comfortable sixth to qualify for Monday's final.

The heat was won by Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti in 3min 41.04sec, with the Kiwi timed at 3:41.53. American Matt Centrowitz won the opening race in 3:47.15.

Willis can be excused for treading carefully after being disqualified in his previous two world indoor championship finals for stepping onto the inside of the track in heavy traffic.