Anita Wlodarczyk unleashes her 78.30m World record in Bydgoszcz (© Piotr Sumara)
Monte CarloStatisticians A. Lennart Julin (SWE) and Mirko Jalava (FIN) continue their 2010 ‘end of season’ event category reviews with a look at the THROWS.
MEN –
Thirty-year-old American Christian Cantwell finally won his first outdoor Shot Put title in Berlin in 2009, and that seemed to trigger a great period for the three time World Indoor champion. Cantwell started his season in Nordhausen, Germany, in January and went on to win his first 18 competitions of the season including the World Indoor Championships in Doha.
In the Discus Throw 31-year-old Estonian Gerd Kanter waited a long time for Virgiljus Alekna of Lithuania to surrender his number one status in the world, but despite being the only thrower in the world over 70 metres this season, could not hang on to consistency and also finished out of the medals at the European Championships with Pole Piotr Malachowski stepping up from his Berlin silver medal to win in Barcelona.
In the Hammer Throw Slovakian Libor Charfreitag was the world leader for a long time and also won the Europeans, but later in August 36-year-old Koji Murofushi (JPN) came back to the top level with an 80.99m World leader in Rieti.
In the Javelin Throw it seems that Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen will be the number one for as long as he throws. Since his Olympic gold in Athens 2004 at the age of 22, Thorkildsen has lost only twice in major championships, in 2005 and 2007 World Championships finishing in silver medal position on both occasions. The 28-year-old added another gold in Barcelona and was the only thrower to break the 90m line this season.
Shot Put -
Cantwell clearly was the man in the Shot Put in 2010. The Missouri native ended his 2009 campaign with two wins and took victories in the first 18 competitions of 2010 to build an admirable 20-win streak which only ended in London in August where both fellow American Reese Hoffa and Pole Tomasz Majewski comfortably beat him. Cantwell won 22 out of 24 meets, only suffering one more loss to Hoffa in Brussels, but beat him 14-2 during the season and is now leading 64-34 in head-to-heads over their careers in 98 outings since 2000. Cantwell hit a world leading 22.41 at the Prefontaine Classic in July and added three more 22m competitions during the summer. Three of these results made it to his 10 best career marks (PB 22.54 2004) giving him a great 22.308m average for his 10 best results overall.
Other throwers were in good form too during the season with four over 22 metres and seven over 21.50m. Reese Hoffa was a clear number two in the world with a season’s best 22.16m coming in Brussels in August. The 25-year-old Cory Martin, also from the USA, made great progress adding a huge 1.67me to his personal best. This in fact happened in just two meets: first 20.82m (previous best 20.43m in 2009) in Kingston and then 22.10m in Tucson in May. Belarusian Andrei Mikhnevich was the best European with a 22.09m national record in July and a win from the European Championships in Barcelona too where he beat the reigning Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski by the narrowest of margins 21.01-21.00.
The United States is the best country with 26 athletes in the world top 100. Germany and Russia are tied for second place with seven each.
Discus Throw -
Kanter enjoyed a short spell at the top of the Discus Throw winning the World title in 2007 and the Olympic crown in 2008, but lately it seems others are already taking over. In 2010 Kanter immediately threw a world leading 71.45m result in Chula Vista in April, but once the European season started his results went down a bit. Instead German Robert Harting, the 2009 World champion and Pole Piotr Malachowski were fighting for the European top spot with Malachowski ending up with the gold medal in Barcelona. In 2009, Harting’s final throw denied the World gold from the 27-year-old from Wroclaw, but in Barcelona a 68.87m throw in round two was enough for the gold. A 69.83m national record in Gateshead in July meant that Malachowski has now broken the Polish record for five seasons in a row starting with a 66.21m win at the European Cup in Málaga in June 2006. Although Harting lost in Barcelona, the rest of his fine season made him the number one thrower in the world. Late wins in Zürich, Berlin and Split and a 69.69m personal best in Neubrandenburg in late August capped a good season for the 26-year-old who also beat Malachowski 7-3 in the 10 competitions between them in 2010.
31-year-old Hungarian Zoltán Kovágó produced his best mark since his PB 69.95m in 2006 with a 69.69m win at the Shanghai Samsung Diamond League meet, but could not really match that performance later during the summer and also was not even close to qualify for the European final ending up with a 21st place in the qualification.
The United States is the top country in this event with 17 athletes in the world top 100. Poland has seven for second place and Estonia and Germany are tied for third with five.
Hammer Throw -
Something was taken away from the men’s Hammer Throw with Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus, the reigning Olympic and World champion, taking the year off. The return of the 31-year-old in 2011 will be a welcome development for overall competition in the event.
Only four athletes reached the 80m line during the season with none of them able to overcome 81 metres. Koji Murofushi, who had struggled with injuries over the past few seasons, returned to the top level in Rieti in August where he first won the qualification with a world leading 80.99m result before taking the final with 80.96m. But the Japanese only competed in five finals during the season winning the last four and therefore the number one thrower in 2010 was Slovakian Libor Charfreitag, who had a season’s best 80.59m in April and also finally won a major championship, taking the gold in Barcelona with a good 80.02m result in late July. Charfreitag suffered two losses to Murofushi after the Europeans before winning the inaugural Continental Cup in Split with a 79.69m toss.
The United States heads this event too with 14 athletes in the world top 100. Germany and Russia are tied for the second place with eight.
Javelin Throw -
Perhaps Andreas Thorkildsen wasn’t in his best form in 2010, not reaching for 90m in every competition, but he still well ahead of all others. In 14 competitions, he took 12 wins and two runner-up finishes, enough to show his continuing class. Mathias De Zordo, the German newcomer to the elite level, won at the European Team Championships in Bergen with Finn Tero Pitkämäki, a much earlier acquaintance, getting the better of the Norwegian in Stockholm. But the rest of the season belonged to Thorkildsen, who beat De Zordo 6-1 and Pitkämäki 9-1 (33-27 career) during the season including a win at the most important meets, the European Championships and the Continental Cup.
The 22-year-old Czech Petr Frydrych, coached by World record holder (98.48m in 1996) Jan Železný, made an early impression with an 88.23m personal best in Ostrava in May, but it was German De Zordo who was able to break into the world top three in addition to Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki. The 22-year-old, 2007 European Junior champion, set his first PB of the season already in May in Rehlingen with an 83.09m winning mark and then progressed to 84.38m in his next competition in Schönebeck in June. But good results don’t necessarily translate to good performances in big competitions and the German proved he was the real deal in his first test winning the European Team Champs in Bergen. In Barcelona he only needed his first throw to ensure a medal, 86.22m followed with a 87.81m in round two, both personal bests, to give him the silver medal less than a metre behind Thorkildsen, who took his second consecutive European title.
Pitkämäki, who had been struggling to find his rhythm during the season came close to his season’s best with an 86.67m throw in round five and 86.31m in round six to get his second straight medal from Europeans in addition to the silver he won in Gothenburg 2006.
Finland as usual has the most athletes in the world top 100 with 12. United States, a bit surprisingly here is second with nine and Germany third at 7.
WOMEN –
Shot Put -
Nadzeya Ostapchuk came as close as you can get without succeeding completely in compiling a perfect year in 2010: Two indoor competitions plus 11 outdoors surpassing 20 metres on all occasions and winning every meet but the very last, the Continental Cup. That loss came to Valerie Adams who herself had gone through the previous three years losing only once, to Ostapchuk at the 2007 World Athletic Final.
This complete turnaround in fortunes was not due to Adams underperforming in 2010 compared to recent years but instead to Ostapchuk displaying a considerably improved consistency on the world scene: Before this year her best distance in a major international meet was 20.51m from the 2005 World Championships. This year she averaged 20.54m in her seven (including one non-scoring) Diamond League starts!
With Ostapchuk only losing once to Adams and the new Zealander never losing to anyone but Ostapchuk these two completely dominated the event. The only 20m mark not belonging to any of the "Big 2" was the 20.13m by Gong Lijiao of China for 3rd in the Continental Cup.
Out of the top-20 in the 2010 World list all but three come from just six nations (Belarus, Germany, Russia, Cuba, China and USA). This nationality pattern has been quite stable for many yearsnow and there are no signs of any imminent change, because this is an event with traditionally very long careers for the top athletes.
Discus Throw -
Traditionally the Discus Throw is an event where the best years for the throwers seem to be around or even after age 30. With that perspective it is quite remarkable that a couple of athletes barely out of the junior ranks have been establishing themselves in the top tier in the last two years. In 2009 Australia's Dani Samuels took the World title at age 21 and this year Croatia's Sandra Perkovic became the European champion at age 20.
That those championships triumphs were not just lucky one-off happenings were proved this summer as both performed well in the Diamond League series: Samuels placed in the top-4 in all her four meets and Perkovic had two wins – New York and Brussels (PB 66.93m!) – plus three more podium finishes.
But the top spot of the event for the year still belonged to a more experienced athlete, Yarelis Barrios of Cuba. A No 1. position she really deserved after having finished runner-up in the last three global championships (Osaka 2007, Beijing 2008 and Berlin 2009). Finally her remarkable consistency paid off as she took four wins and a second place in the Diamond League with marks of 64.90m – 65.92m – 65.53m – 65.62m – 65.96m!
The contrast is stark when comparing it to the seasonal record of 2010 World list leader (67.78m) Nadine Müller: In her four DL appearances Müller had reached 63.93m – 61.14m – 61.73m – 59.09m and for her 57.78m in the European Championships final she had to be content with an 8th place.
With her 67.78m Müller moved up to position No. 49 on the World all-time list. Something rather remarkable as everybody ahead of her has been there for the last 12 years or more! Born in 1985 Müller is 11 years younger than any other thrower on the top-50 and all but three of those ahead of her were born before 1970!
Returning to the present situation: In the experienced age 30+ category Li Yanfeng of China was the top name in 2010. In the DL final in Brussels she was 3rd behind Perkovic and Barrios, in Zagreb she was 2nd behind Perkovic and she won the Continental Cup ahead of both Perkovic and Barrios. Li capped her year in late November by winning the Asian Games with 66.18m.
The number of 60m-throwers per year seems to have been on a slight downward trend during this millennium starting out at 53 in the year 2000 and now in 2010 reaching 32.
Hammer Throw -
With the Hammer Throw not a part of the Diamond League a separate challenge circuit was provided for them with competitions in Africa (Dakar), Asia (Daegu), South America (Rio de Janeiro) and Europe (Ostrava, Zhukovskiy, Berlin and Rieti). With Daegu, Rio and Ostrava within just one week in May no thrower attempted to compete in all seven meets.
Starting out best was World champion and World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland and Germany's Betty Heidler who took turns winning in Dakar (Wlodarczyk), Daegu (Heidler) and Ostrava (Wlodarczyk) with 75m-performances. Then Wlodarczyk at home in Bydgoszcz on 6 June suddenly raised her game a couple of meters hitting 78.30m, an improvement of her own World record from the 2009 World Championships by 34 centimetres!
However, she never really got the chance to build upon that success as injuries were to hamper the rest of her season. Even her start at the European Championships in Barcelona in late July was doubtful almost right up to the qualification round. Wlodarczyk did compete there but she was not capable of getting into the fight for the gold between Heidler and Russia's former World record holder Tatyana Lysenko.
A fight won by Heidler (76.38m vs 75.65m) and seen over the whole season the Olympic champion from Beijing was the foremost hammer thrower of 2010 as proven by her 4-2 vs Wlodarczyk and 7-2 vs Lysenko.
In the IAAF Hammer Challenge the three of them took two wins each: Heidler in Daegu and Berlin, Wlodarczyk in Dakar and Ostrava and Lysenko in Zhukovskiy and Rieti. The seventh win (in Rio de Janeiro) went to Darya Pchelnik of Belarus who also scored one 3rd and one 4th place in May/June before fading in the second half of the year (not surpassing 68 metres and not reaching the final in the European Championships).
The year also saw the return to the hammer circle after one year of maternity leave for Cuba's Yispi Moreno. 2nd in Zhukovskiy and the Challenge final in Rieti and 3rd in the Continental Cup signals that the two times gold and four times silver medallist in global championships most likely will be a major candidate for medal honours again already next year in the Daegu World Championships.
The name to watch in the future is Romania's Bianca Perie who at age 20 in her first year as a senior took 4th place in the European Championships. But that statement concerning the prospects of Perie is neither new, nor bold nor unique as she between 2005 and 2009 collected no less than two World Youth titles, two World Junior titles and two European Junior titles!
Javelin Throw -
With Steffi Nerius retiring after unexpectedly crowning her long career perfectly with the Berlin World title last year the event looked set to become a three-way battle between Barbora Spotakova, Christina Obergföll and Mariya Abakumova who together had amassed a total of two golds, five silvers and two bronzes in major championships in 2005-2009.
The greatest consistency was once more shown by World record holder Spotakova who despite contesting all seven Diamond Leagues, the European championships and three more international events never finished outside of the top-3. In the DL she had 3-2-2 which by far outscored Obergföll's 1-0-0-3 and Abakumova's 1-0-0-1. But although the trio ended up closely bunched between 68.63m and 68.89m at the very top of the 2010 World list they far from had the event all to themselves during the summer.
Looking at the Diamond League it was actually American Kara Patterson that compiled behind Spotakova's by far the second best record when she in the middle of the summer collected one win and three 2nd places. Quite impressive for someone who before 2010 had thrown over 59 metres only twice in her whole career and who had failed miserably in the qualifying rounds of both Beijing (54 metres) and Berlin (52 metres).
Also South African Sunette Viljoen with her 1-1-1 had more DL-success than Obergföll and Abakumova. Viljoen backed it up with taking the 2nd place behind Abakumova's 68.14m in the Continental Cup. (Abakumova was very lucky to get a place on the European team after finishing 5th in Barcelona. But with three of the four ahead being from Germany and with bronze medallist Spotakova having ended her season due to injuries Abakumova got the chance – and certainly didn't waste it!)
Patterson and Viljoen were not the only ones keeping the "Big three" from having the event all to themselves this summer. Even on the European scene there were tough challenges. Just like in Berlin 2009 the championship gold medal slipped away from them to someone who managed to find that "super throw" on the given day.
This time it was Linda Stahl who had been just third in the German championships a few weeks earlier. Stahl in the 5th round of the final in Barcelona suddenly improved her seasonal best coming into the meet by over four meters to the new PB of 66.81m!
Also raising her game considerably in 2010 was Slovenia's Martina Ratej. Before this year she was a regular sub-60 thrower who had indicated greater potential with a couple of odd 63m-competitions. This year at age 28 she had 15 of 17 meets beyond 60 including seven beyond 64! And even more importantly Ratej threw well when up against the best: Her PB of 67.16m was set in a tough fight with the "Big 3" in the Doha DL, she was 2nd in the Eugene DL and she defeated Spotakova on Czech soil at the Ostrava IAAF Challenge meet.
With Nerius retired and as former World record holder Osleidys Menendez continues to struggle with injuries the event is now completely dominated by throwers born in the 1980's which means that they have every chance of retaining that grip for years to come. For the current top juniors – who are to be found around 57 metres – it will probably take considerable time and lots of hard work to improve enough to make a real impact also in the senior ranks.
MEN –
Thirty-year-old American Christian Cantwell finally won his first outdoor Shot Put title in Berlin in 2009, and that seemed to trigger a great period for the three time World Indoor champion. Cantwell started his season in Nordhausen, Germany, in January and went on to win his first 18 competitions of the season including the World Indoor Championships in Doha.
In the Discus Throw 31-year-old Estonian Gerd Kanter waited a long time for Virgiljus Alekna of Lithuania to surrender his number one status in the world, but despite being the only thrower in the world over 70 metres this season, could not hang on to consistency and also finished out of the medals at the European Championships with Pole Piotr Malachowski stepping up from his Berlin silver medal to win in Barcelona.
In the Hammer Throw Slovakian Libor Charfreitag was the world leader for a long time and also won the Europeans, but later in August 36-year-old Koji Murofushi (JPN) came back to the top level with an 80.99m World leader in Rieti.
In the Javelin Throw it seems that Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen will be the number one for as long as he throws. Since his Olympic gold in Athens 2004 at the age of 22, Thorkildsen has lost only twice in major championships, in 2005 and 2007 World Championships finishing in silver medal position on both occasions. The 28-year-old added another gold in Barcelona and was the only thrower to break the 90m line this season.
Shot Put -
Cantwell clearly was the man in the Shot Put in 2010. The Missouri native ended his 2009 campaign with two wins and took victories in the first 18 competitions of 2010 to build an admirable 20-win streak which only ended in London in August where both fellow American Reese Hoffa and Pole Tomasz Majewski comfortably beat him. Cantwell won 22 out of 24 meets, only suffering one more loss to Hoffa in Brussels, but beat him 14-2 during the season and is now leading 64-34 in head-to-heads over their careers in 98 outings since 2000. Cantwell hit a world leading 22.41 at the Prefontaine Classic in July and added three more 22m competitions during the summer. Three of these results made it to his 10 best career marks (PB 22.54 2004) giving him a great 22.308m average for his 10 best results overall.
Other throwers were in good form too during the season with four over 22 metres and seven over 21.50m. Reese Hoffa was a clear number two in the world with a season’s best 22.16m coming in Brussels in August. The 25-year-old Cory Martin, also from the USA, made great progress adding a huge 1.67me to his personal best. This in fact happened in just two meets: first 20.82m (previous best 20.43m in 2009) in Kingston and then 22.10m in Tucson in May. Belarusian Andrei Mikhnevich was the best European with a 22.09m national record in July and a win from the European Championships in Barcelona too where he beat the reigning Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski by the narrowest of margins 21.01-21.00.
The United States is the best country with 26 athletes in the world top 100. Germany and Russia are tied for second place with seven each.
Discus Throw -
Kanter enjoyed a short spell at the top of the Discus Throw winning the World title in 2007 and the Olympic crown in 2008, but lately it seems others are already taking over. In 2010 Kanter immediately threw a world leading 71.45m result in Chula Vista in April, but once the European season started his results went down a bit. Instead German Robert Harting, the 2009 World champion and Pole Piotr Malachowski were fighting for the European top spot with Malachowski ending up with the gold medal in Barcelona. In 2009, Harting’s final throw denied the World gold from the 27-year-old from Wroclaw, but in Barcelona a 68.87m throw in round two was enough for the gold. A 69.83m national record in Gateshead in July meant that Malachowski has now broken the Polish record for five seasons in a row starting with a 66.21m win at the European Cup in Málaga in June 2006. Although Harting lost in Barcelona, the rest of his fine season made him the number one thrower in the world. Late wins in Zürich, Berlin and Split and a 69.69m personal best in Neubrandenburg in late August capped a good season for the 26-year-old who also beat Malachowski 7-3 in the 10 competitions between them in 2010.
31-year-old Hungarian Zoltán Kovágó produced his best mark since his PB 69.95m in 2006 with a 69.69m win at the Shanghai Samsung Diamond League meet, but could not really match that performance later during the summer and also was not even close to qualify for the European final ending up with a 21st place in the qualification.
The United States is the top country in this event with 17 athletes in the world top 100. Poland has seven for second place and Estonia and Germany are tied for third with five.
Hammer Throw -
Something was taken away from the men’s Hammer Throw with Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus, the reigning Olympic and World champion, taking the year off. The return of the 31-year-old in 2011 will be a welcome development for overall competition in the event.
Only four athletes reached the 80m line during the season with none of them able to overcome 81 metres. Koji Murofushi, who had struggled with injuries over the past few seasons, returned to the top level in Rieti in August where he first won the qualification with a world leading 80.99m result before taking the final with 80.96m. But the Japanese only competed in five finals during the season winning the last four and therefore the number one thrower in 2010 was Slovakian Libor Charfreitag, who had a season’s best 80.59m in April and also finally won a major championship, taking the gold in Barcelona with a good 80.02m result in late July. Charfreitag suffered two losses to Murofushi after the Europeans before winning the inaugural Continental Cup in Split with a 79.69m toss.
The United States heads this event too with 14 athletes in the world top 100. Germany and Russia are tied for the second place with eight.
Javelin Throw -
Perhaps Andreas Thorkildsen wasn’t in his best form in 2010, not reaching for 90m in every competition, but he still well ahead of all others. In 14 competitions, he took 12 wins and two runner-up finishes, enough to show his continuing class. Mathias De Zordo, the German newcomer to the elite level, won at the European Team Championships in Bergen with Finn Tero Pitkämäki, a much earlier acquaintance, getting the better of the Norwegian in Stockholm. But the rest of the season belonged to Thorkildsen, who beat De Zordo 6-1 and Pitkämäki 9-1 (33-27 career) during the season including a win at the most important meets, the European Championships and the Continental Cup.
The 22-year-old Czech Petr Frydrych, coached by World record holder (98.48m in 1996) Jan Železný, made an early impression with an 88.23m personal best in Ostrava in May, but it was German De Zordo who was able to break into the world top three in addition to Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki. The 22-year-old, 2007 European Junior champion, set his first PB of the season already in May in Rehlingen with an 83.09m winning mark and then progressed to 84.38m in his next competition in Schönebeck in June. But good results don’t necessarily translate to good performances in big competitions and the German proved he was the real deal in his first test winning the European Team Champs in Bergen. In Barcelona he only needed his first throw to ensure a medal, 86.22m followed with a 87.81m in round two, both personal bests, to give him the silver medal less than a metre behind Thorkildsen, who took his second consecutive European title.
Pitkämäki, who had been struggling to find his rhythm during the season came close to his season’s best with an 86.67m throw in round five and 86.31m in round six to get his second straight medal from Europeans in addition to the silver he won in Gothenburg 2006.
Finland as usual has the most athletes in the world top 100 with 12. United States, a bit surprisingly here is second with nine and Germany third at 7.
WOMEN –
Shot Put -
Nadzeya Ostapchuk came as close as you can get without succeeding completely in compiling a perfect year in 2010: Two indoor competitions plus 11 outdoors surpassing 20 metres on all occasions and winning every meet but the very last, the Continental Cup. That loss came to Valerie Adams who herself had gone through the previous three years losing only once, to Ostapchuk at the 2007 World Athletic Final.
This complete turnaround in fortunes was not due to Adams underperforming in 2010 compared to recent years but instead to Ostapchuk displaying a considerably improved consistency on the world scene: Before this year her best distance in a major international meet was 20.51m from the 2005 World Championships. This year she averaged 20.54m in her seven (including one non-scoring) Diamond League starts!
With Ostapchuk only losing once to Adams and the new Zealander never losing to anyone but Ostapchuk these two completely dominated the event. The only 20m mark not belonging to any of the "Big 2" was the 20.13m by Gong Lijiao of China for 3rd in the Continental Cup.
Out of the top-20 in the 2010 World list all but three come from just six nations (Belarus, Germany, Russia, Cuba, China and USA). This nationality pattern has been quite stable for many yearsnow and there are no signs of any imminent change, because this is an event with traditionally very long careers for the top athletes.
Discus Throw -
Traditionally the Discus Throw is an event where the best years for the throwers seem to be around or even after age 30. With that perspective it is quite remarkable that a couple of athletes barely out of the junior ranks have been establishing themselves in the top tier in the last two years. In 2009 Australia's Dani Samuels took the World title at age 21 and this year Croatia's Sandra Perkovic became the European champion at age 20.
That those championships triumphs were not just lucky one-off happenings were proved this summer as both performed well in the Diamond League series: Samuels placed in the top-4 in all her four meets and Perkovic had two wins – New York and Brussels (PB 66.93m!) – plus three more podium finishes.
But the top spot of the event for the year still belonged to a more experienced athlete, Yarelis Barrios of Cuba. A No 1. position she really deserved after having finished runner-up in the last three global championships (Osaka 2007, Beijing 2008 and Berlin 2009). Finally her remarkable consistency paid off as she took four wins and a second place in the Diamond League with marks of 64.90m – 65.92m – 65.53m – 65.62m – 65.96m!
The contrast is stark when comparing it to the seasonal record of 2010 World list leader (67.78m) Nadine Müller: In her four DL appearances Müller had reached 63.93m – 61.14m – 61.73m – 59.09m and for her 57.78m in the European Championships final she had to be content with an 8th place.
With her 67.78m Müller moved up to position No. 49 on the World all-time list. Something rather remarkable as everybody ahead of her has been there for the last 12 years or more! Born in 1985 Müller is 11 years younger than any other thrower on the top-50 and all but three of those ahead of her were born before 1970!
Returning to the present situation: In the experienced age 30+ category Li Yanfeng of China was the top name in 2010. In the DL final in Brussels she was 3rd behind Perkovic and Barrios, in Zagreb she was 2nd behind Perkovic and she won the Continental Cup ahead of both Perkovic and Barrios. Li capped her year in late November by winning the Asian Games with 66.18m.
The number of 60m-throwers per year seems to have been on a slight downward trend during this millennium starting out at 53 in the year 2000 and now in 2010 reaching 32.
Hammer Throw -
With the Hammer Throw not a part of the Diamond League a separate challenge circuit was provided for them with competitions in Africa (Dakar), Asia (Daegu), South America (Rio de Janeiro) and Europe (Ostrava, Zhukovskiy, Berlin and Rieti). With Daegu, Rio and Ostrava within just one week in May no thrower attempted to compete in all seven meets.
Starting out best was World champion and World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland and Germany's Betty Heidler who took turns winning in Dakar (Wlodarczyk), Daegu (Heidler) and Ostrava (Wlodarczyk) with 75m-performances. Then Wlodarczyk at home in Bydgoszcz on 6 June suddenly raised her game a couple of meters hitting 78.30m, an improvement of her own World record from the 2009 World Championships by 34 centimetres!
However, she never really got the chance to build upon that success as injuries were to hamper the rest of her season. Even her start at the European Championships in Barcelona in late July was doubtful almost right up to the qualification round. Wlodarczyk did compete there but she was not capable of getting into the fight for the gold between Heidler and Russia's former World record holder Tatyana Lysenko.
A fight won by Heidler (76.38m vs 75.65m) and seen over the whole season the Olympic champion from Beijing was the foremost hammer thrower of 2010 as proven by her 4-2 vs Wlodarczyk and 7-2 vs Lysenko.
In the IAAF Hammer Challenge the three of them took two wins each: Heidler in Daegu and Berlin, Wlodarczyk in Dakar and Ostrava and Lysenko in Zhukovskiy and Rieti. The seventh win (in Rio de Janeiro) went to Darya Pchelnik of Belarus who also scored one 3rd and one 4th place in May/June before fading in the second half of the year (not surpassing 68 metres and not reaching the final in the European Championships).
The year also saw the return to the hammer circle after one year of maternity leave for Cuba's Yispi Moreno. 2nd in Zhukovskiy and the Challenge final in Rieti and 3rd in the Continental Cup signals that the two times gold and four times silver medallist in global championships most likely will be a major candidate for medal honours again already next year in the Daegu World Championships.
The name to watch in the future is Romania's Bianca Perie who at age 20 in her first year as a senior took 4th place in the European Championships. But that statement concerning the prospects of Perie is neither new, nor bold nor unique as she between 2005 and 2009 collected no less than two World Youth titles, two World Junior titles and two European Junior titles!
Javelin Throw -
With Steffi Nerius retiring after unexpectedly crowning her long career perfectly with the Berlin World title last year the event looked set to become a three-way battle between Barbora Spotakova, Christina Obergföll and Mariya Abakumova who together had amassed a total of two golds, five silvers and two bronzes in major championships in 2005-2009.
The greatest consistency was once more shown by World record holder Spotakova who despite contesting all seven Diamond Leagues, the European championships and three more international events never finished outside of the top-3. In the DL she had 3-2-2 which by far outscored Obergföll's 1-0-0-3 and Abakumova's 1-0-0-1. But although the trio ended up closely bunched between 68.63m and 68.89m at the very top of the 2010 World list they far from had the event all to themselves during the summer.
Looking at the Diamond League it was actually American Kara Patterson that compiled behind Spotakova's by far the second best record when she in the middle of the summer collected one win and three 2nd places. Quite impressive for someone who before 2010 had thrown over 59 metres only twice in her whole career and who had failed miserably in the qualifying rounds of both Beijing (54 metres) and Berlin (52 metres).
Also South African Sunette Viljoen with her 1-1-1 had more DL-success than Obergföll and Abakumova. Viljoen backed it up with taking the 2nd place behind Abakumova's 68.14m in the Continental Cup. (Abakumova was very lucky to get a place on the European team after finishing 5th in Barcelona. But with three of the four ahead being from Germany and with bronze medallist Spotakova having ended her season due to injuries Abakumova got the chance – and certainly didn't waste it!)
Patterson and Viljoen were not the only ones keeping the "Big three" from having the event all to themselves this summer. Even on the European scene there were tough challenges. Just like in Berlin 2009 the championship gold medal slipped away from them to someone who managed to find that "super throw" on the given day.
This time it was Linda Stahl who had been just third in the German championships a few weeks earlier. Stahl in the 5th round of the final in Barcelona suddenly improved her seasonal best coming into the meet by over four meters to the new PB of 66.81m!
Also raising her game considerably in 2010 was Slovenia's Martina Ratej. Before this year she was a regular sub-60 thrower who had indicated greater potential with a couple of odd 63m-competitions. This year at age 28 she had 15 of 17 meets beyond 60 including seven beyond 64! And even more importantly Ratej threw well when up against the best: Her PB of 67.16m was set in a tough fight with the "Big 3" in the Doha DL, she was 2nd in the Eugene DL and she defeated Spotakova on Czech soil at the Ostrava IAAF Challenge meet.
With Nerius retired and as former World record holder Osleidys Menendez continues to struggle with injuries the event is now completely dominated by throwers born in the 1980's which means that they have every chance of retaining that grip for years to come. For the current top juniors – who are to be found around 57 metres – it will probably take considerable time and lots of hard work to improve enough to make a real impact also in the senior ranks.
