Welington Morais

Welington Silva Morais was born in Imperatriz, Maranhão on 6 September 1996.[1] He began training in athletics in 2010 at the suggestion of a teacher who observed him playing dodgeball.[2] Morais won some local titles before moving to the city of Londrina to continue his training.[2] He saw a rapid improvement in his results,[2] winning the silver medal in the javelin throw (700 g) at the 2012 South American Youth Championships in Argentina.[3] The following year he won a gold medal in the shot put event at the Jogos Escolares da Juventude (Juvenile School Games); his mother surprised him by travelling to the city of Belém to see him compete for the first time.[2]

After settling on the shot put as his discipline, Morais captured the silver medal at the 2015 South American Junior Championships in Ecuador.[4] He also competed at the Pan American Junior Championships two months later in Canada,[5] though he did not medal. In 2018, Morais won a bronze medal at the Troféu Brasil de Atletismo by reaching 19.37 m.[6] Two weeks later he won the 2018 South American U23 Championships with a personal best throw of 19.85 m, coming within 7 centimetres of the championship record.[7]

In mid-2019, Morais competed at both the Summer Universiade in Italy and the Pan American Games in Peru, though he failed to reach the podium at either.[8][9] However, that September, he repeated as a bronze medallist at the Troféu Brasil de Atletismo before capturing the Brazilian university title.[10][11] Morais followed this up with a silver-medal performance at the 2020 Troféu Brasil de Atletismo, recording a throw of 19.43 m while Darlan Romani captured his ninth consecutive national title.[12]

On 26 March 2021, Morais threw 20.28 m for a first-place finish at the Reynaldo Berto Gorno South American Grand Prix in Uruguay.[13] It was the first time he surpassed the 20-metre mark and was the second-farthest throw ever by a Brazilian, behind only Darlan Romani's 22.61 m.[13] Morais then won the gold medal at the 2021 South American Championships in Ecuador with a throw of 19.87 m,[14] though he failed to get onto the podium at the national championships after finishing in fourth place.[15]

Morais improved to 20.60 m for a third-place finish at the Torneio Internacional de Atletismo São Paulo in April 2022.[16] He won the silver medal at the Ibero-American Championships in Spain the following month.[17] He achieved a new personal best mark of 20.78 m but once again finished behind Darlan Romani, who recorded a championship record throw of 21.70 m.[17]

All information taken from World Athletics profile.[18]

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Brazil
2012	South American Youth Championships	Mendoza, Argentina	2nd	Javelin throw (700 g)	63.59 m
2015	South American Junior Championships	Cuenca, Ecuador	2nd	Shot put (6 kg)	18.24 m
	Pan American Junior Championships	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	7th	Shot put (6 kg)	17.85 m
2018	South American U23 Championships	Cuenca, Ecuador	1st	Shot put	19.85 m
2019	Universiade	Napoli, Italy	—	Shot put	NM
	Pan American Games	Lima, Peru	7th	Shot put	19.22 m
2021	South American Championships	Guayaquil, Ecuador	1st	Shot put	19.87 m
2022	Ibero-American Championships	Guayaquil, Ecuador	2nd	Shot put	20.78 m PB
	World Championships	Eugene, United States	19th (q)	Shot put	19.80 m
	South American Games	Asunción, Paraguay	1st	Shot put	20.00 m
2023	South American Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	1st	Shot put	20.59 m
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	17th (q)	Shot put	20.30 m

• Welington Morais at World Athletics