Tom Walsh Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Shot-putter Tom Walsh feels his form is getting close to where it should be as he looks to return to the top of the sport.
Finishing second to local-rival Jacko Gill over the summer might have suggested that Walsh wasn't at his best, however he doesn't believe that was the case.
Speaking from the United States, where he's preparing for the northern season, Walsh feels it was still one of his better New Zealand seasons.
"As a team we identified what we may have just slightly got wrong and it was mainly my fault.
"We were trying to change some technical things in the off-season and I just got stuck in that mindset of technical rather than going after the shot and attacking it."
Tom Walsh Photo: AFP / Belga / Eric Lalmand
After splitting with coach Dale Stevenson last year, Walsh is now under the guidance of Hayden Hall, who was a part of the team with Stevenson.
"I have good belief that we've done some really good stuff in the off-season and we're just starting to knock on the door and we're starting to get close to where we think I should be.
Walsh led the way on the world scene from 2016 to 2019, winning the World Championship title in 2017 and the indoor titles in 2016 and 2018.
However the 31 year old admits in the last few years he hasn't been where he's wanted it to be.
"It's challenging because things change over time including your mental state, so it's always evolving and something we're trying to nail.
"We as a team feel I'm starting to regain some of the stuff that I was doing well in those years and it's not the same but we're starting to feel we're cooking with gas."
Walsh says it wasn't a matter of technical issues that was holding him back.
"Over the previous few years I was probably not getting all my horsepower into the shot, so we've been working on that and we're pretty happy heading into these first few comps in the northern hemisphere."
However don't expect record breaking distances early in the season and in the Diamond League with all the athletes setting themselves up for the World Championships in Hungary in August.
"We've identified some competitions which we think fits in well with our schedule."
His first outing is in Arizona this weekend with the opening Diamond League meeting in Italy in early June.
Apart from feeling a bit older the former world champion and two time Olympic bronze medalist is feeling good about his 10th year on the world stage.
Besides Jacko Gill, Walsh has the usual suspects to contend with again in Americans Joe Kovacs and Ryan Crouser who have had the better of him in major competitions in recent years.
"One thing we've been use to in men's shot-put for many years is that it's been bloody tough and it's getting tougher and tougher which is a good thing.
"It just means you got to keep yourself on your toes and you just don't want to have one of those bad days.
"Because if you have one of those bad days now, instead of being in the mix you're finishing fifth, sixth or seventh.