Poland's Pawel Fajdek at the 2013 IAAF World Championships (© Getty Images)
With the world’s top two throwers at their disposal, Europe will be banking on maximum points from the men’s hammer.
World champion Pawel Fajdek leads the world list thanks to his Polish record of 83.48m on home soil in Warsaw, just a week after Hungary’s Olympic champion Krisztian Pars beat him to the European title with a lifetime best of 82.69m.
No one else in the field has approached those distances, the closest being Mostafa Al-Gamel who broke the African record when he threw 81.27m in Cairo back in March, and Tajikistani thrower Dilshod Nazarov who has breached 80 metres three times.
A multiple world and Olympic finalist, Nazarov will lead the Asia-Pacific challenge backed up by Kuwait’s former world junior silver medallist Mohamed Ali Al-Zankawi, while South African veteran Chris Harmse will be Al-Gamel’s partner after finishing second to the Egyptian at the recent African Championships.
Kibwe Johnson, the 2011 Pan-American Games champion, and Cuba’s former Central American champion Roberto Janet team up for the Americas.
Matt Brown for the IAAF
