Report14 Aug 2009


Event Report - Men's Hammer Throw - Qualification

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Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia reaches the automatic qualifying mark in the men's Hammer Throw first round (© Getty Images)

Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus was fittingly the first automatic qualifier in the men’s Hammer Throw, while pre-championship favourite and world leader Kristian Pars overcame a shaky first-round effort to produce the best throw of the day.

Pars, competing in group B, threw just 72.94m in the first round before unleashing an impressive 78.68m in round two. The Hungarian will undoubtedly be a force in the final, but Kozmus also looks set to mount a strong challenge.

Kozmus threw 77.55m – five centimetres past the auto qualification mark – to advance into Monday’s final. There the Slovenian will be aiming to emulate Poland’s Szymon Ziolkowski, the last man to achieve the Olympic and World Championships double in back-to-back years.

Poland’s Ziolkowski is still in good form too, and he led group A with a throw of 77.89m, his second-best throw of the season.

Belarussian Yuriy Shayunov – one of the medal favourites – produced a solid throw in round two, but it was judged a foul in the circle. His first-round 71.37m remained his best, which ranked him well outside the qualifying positions. The fate of his team-mate Dmitriy Shako was just as bad as he could only manage 71.80m. It was therefore down to Pavel Kryvitski to keep their nation’s dreams alive and with a final-round effort of 77.85m – the third best overall – he ensured that there will be a Belarussian presence in the Hammer throw for the 10th consecutive IAAF World Championships final.

Russian-turned-German Sergey Litvinov – son of the 1988 Olympic Hammer champion of the same name – gave the home crowd a reason to cheer with a throw of 77.68m, his second best ever throw and just 20cm shy of his PB.

Markus Esser ensured there will be two German athletes in the final. His first-round 76.81m throw in group B was good enough to place eighth overall.

Russia will also have two athletes in the final in the shape of Igor Vinichenko and Aleksey Zagornyi. Vinichenko was an automatic qualifier in group A with a throw of 77.54m, while Zagornyi threw 75.38m in group B to progress, having failed to make the final in his past three global championships.

Rounding out the qualifiers were Italy’s Nicola Vizzoni, Croatia’s Andras Haklits, Slovakia’s Libor Charfreitag and Tadjikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov.

Notable casualties included Latvian record-holder Igor Sokolovs. Having thrown 80.14m earlier this year, Sokolovs disappointed with a best in qualification of just 73.97m. Meanwhile European silver medallist Olli-Pekka Karjalainen of Finland managed just 74.09m, his shortest throw of the year, and will miss out on the final.

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

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