Another straightforward win for the World and Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania, a victory which summed up his season of dominance in this event.
In the first of four rounds, throwing last of the 8 man field, the 33-year-old released a relatively lowly effort for his stature of CV. But that did not stop his 64.59m taking the lead. His nearest challenger the Hungarian Zoltan Kovago, the penultimate thrower of each round, with 64.48 on his first release, was in second.
The Hungarian upped the stakes in the second round with an improvement to 65.65 to which Alekna immediately answered with 67.16. With the double World champion fouling his third attempt this was to remain the leading performance of the day until, you’ve guessed it, the second longest thrower of all-time (73.88 – 2000) produced an improvement increasing his best of the evening to 67.64, for the win.
Fighting for the minor places, Aleksander Tammert of Estonia moved into third in round three with 65.22, only to be shifted off the podium in the final throws, when fellow Estonian Gerd Kanter, the World silver medallist, threw 66.01 to grab second ahead of Kovago. He had languished in fifth until that point.
So 30,000USD for the win went to Alekna, 20,000 for second went to Kanter and 12,000 landed with Kovago in third.
CT
