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Valerie Vili celebrates her World Championship gold medal - Source: Reuters
AUDIO: Listen to ONE Sport's interview with Vili after her victory (2:37)
Valerie Vili's global domination of women's shot put continued at the athletics world championships in Germany on Monday.
New Zealand's queen of the field won a second successive world title with a put of 20.44m, well short of her personal best but more than enough to claim the gold medal by 0.24m.
She finished comfortably ahead of silver medallist, German Nadine Kleinert, who threw a career best 20.20m, and China's bronze medallist Lijao Gong, who managed a personal best of 19.89m.
It was not all smooth going for Vili in front of a parochial German crowd, who cheered on for three local finalists.
She made an indifferent start with a timid first put of 19.40m
and found herself in fifth place overall after two rounds, having
scratched her second effort by deliberately placing her foot over
the barrier.
Vili tries to set the tone in the big competitions but she found
herself in the unusual position of having to play catch up.
Vulnerable
Kleinhert had set the stadium alight with first up personal best of 20.06m and for a brief moment Vili looked vulnerable.
But the Aucklander's class came to the fore with her third attempt.
All the poise and composure seen so often returned and the put flew far in warm Berlin air.
Vili knew it was big the moment she released it and a gesture to the crowd signalled her delight when it was confirmed at 20.25m.
Within a few short moments, Vili reclaimed her aura and while
Kleinhert produced another personal best of 20.20m, she was clearly
tiring.
Guarantee
But with her confidence up, Vili heaved the winning put 20.44m with her fifth throw to guarantee her triumph.
The final round was tense but as the challenges stepped up and failed, Vili's moment arrived.
A sixth put was not required but the New Zealander proudly stepped up regardless, registering 20.25m before the celebrations began.
Vili leaped about in joy at back to back world titles.
She embraced her coach, Kirsten Hellier, in the stands before proceeding to wave the New Zealand flag with vigour on a deserved victory lap.
The victory caps another remarkable year for Vili, who in May broke her New Zealand record with a heave of 20.69m in Brazil.
Vili joins German Astrid Kumbernuss and China's Zhihong Huang as the only multiple world shot put champions.
