Women's Hammer throw (Getty images)

Male

Pos Athlete Mark Country
1 Krisztián Pars 82.40 Hungary HUN
2 Pawel Fajdek 82.27 Poland POL
3 Sergej Litvinov 80.89 Russia RUS
4 Dilshod Nazarov 80.71 Tajikistan TJK
5 Lukáš Melich 80.28 Czech Republic CZE

Female

Pos Athlete Mark Country
1 Tatyana Lysenko 78.80 Russia RUS
2 Anita Wlodarczyk 78.46 Poland POL
3 Oksana Kondrateva 77.13 Russia RUS
4 Betty Heidler 76.48 Germany GER
5 Anna Bulgakova 76.17 Russia RUS

Male

Pos Athlete Mark Country
1 Yuriy Sedykh 86.74 U.S.S.R. URS
2 Ivan Tsikhan 86.73 Belarus BLR
3 Sergey Litvinov 86.04 Russia RUS
4 Vadim Devyatovskiy 84.90 Belarus BLR
5 Koji Murofushi 84.86 Japan JPN

Female

Pos Athlete Mark Country
1 Betty Heidler 79.42 Germany GER
2 Tatyana Lysenko 78.80 Russia RUS
3 Aksana Miankova 78.69 Belarus BLR
4 Anita Wlodarczyk 78.46 Poland POL
5 Gulfiya Khanafeyeva 77.26 Russia RUS

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Hammer Throw

How it works

Athletes throw a metal ball (16lb/7.26kg for men, 4kg for women) for distance that’s attached to a grip by a steel wire no longer than 1.22m while remaining inside a 7-ft (2.135m) diameter circle.

In order for the throw to be measured the ball must land inside a marked 35-degree sector and the athlete must not leave the circle before it has landed, and then only from the rear half of the circle.

The thrower usually makes three or four spins before releasing the ball.  Athletes will commonly throw four or six times per competition.  In the event of a tie, the winner will be the athlete with the next best effort.

History

Legend traces the concept of the Hammer Throw to approximately 2000BC and the Tailteann Games in Tara, Ireland, where the Celtic warrior Culchulainn gripped a chariot wheel by its axle, whirled it around his head and threw it a huge distance.

The wheel was later replaced by a boulder attached to a wooden handle and the use of a sledgehammer is considered to have originated in England and Scotland during the Middle Ages. A 16th century drawing shows the English king Henry VIII throwing a blacksmith’s hammer.

The hammer was first contested by men at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris but the first global competition for women was the 1999 IAAF World Championships.

Did you know

Germany's Karl-Hans Riehm not only set a World record of 78.50m at a meeting in the German town of Rehlingen on May 19, 1975, but all six of his throws were better than the previous World record of 76.66m.

Gold standard

American thrower John Flanagan is the only man to win the Olympic Games hammer title on three occasions, taking the gold medal on the first three occasions it was contested in 1900, 1904 and 1908.

The only time a World record has been set to win a women's global crown was when Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk won at the 2009 IAAF World Championships with a throw of 77.96m.

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Yuriy Sedykh

The Russian, competing for the Soviet Union, won two Olympic gold medals in 1976 and 1980. He then had to wait another 11 years before winning the 1991 World title at the age of 36.  He also won at three successive European Championships in 1978, 1982 and 1986. Sedykh set six World records and his 1986 mark of 86.74m still stands on top of the all-time lists.

Yipsi Moreno

Since the introduction of the women’s hammer at major championships just over a decade ago, few can match the record of the powerful Cuban. She’s won two IAAF World Championships gold medals in 2001 and 2003, finished second twice and won Olympic Games silver medals in 2004 and 2008. 

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