Defending champion Robert Harting in the qualification round of the men's Discus Throw (© Getty Images)
Daegu, Korea – Men’s discus qualifying on Monday morning was hardly a throwing master-class. No-one reached the automatic qualifying distance of 65.50m, despite the fact that 22 out of the 33 entrants had done so in 2011.
Piotr Malachowski of Poland came closest with 65.48m, a distance which topped group B. Ehsan Hadadi of Iran, the Asian Games champion, topped group A with 65.21m. The only other man over 65 metres was Jorge Fernandez of Cuba, who was second in group B at 65.13m.
Defending champion Robert Harting of Germany took just two throws – a 64.93m and a 63.75m – before deciding he had done enough. He left the infield without taking his third and final throw judging, correctly, as it turned out, that he was safely through to Tuesday night’s final.
The oldest man in the field, twice Olympic and twice World champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania also reached the final, throwing 64.21m to finish sixth overall.
Others were not so fortunate. Of the top 10 throwers for 2011 coming into Daegu, no fewer than five made it to the final.
Yennifer Frank Casanas of Spain did not take his place in group A, 2011 leader Zoltan Kovago of Hungary threw 69.50m in Budapest on 30 July but his best of 62.16m saw him finish 15th overall and out of the final. Jarred Rome of US and Martin Wierig of Germany did not make it through, while Lawrence Okoye, seventh on the world list with 67.63m, did not make the British team.
With Harting’s injury concern - he has had treatment for a knee injury – it was a dirty morning all round for Germany as 66.87m thrower Markus Munch also failed to make the final.
Still, the 12 men who do step into the throwing circle on Tuesday night represent virtually every area of the world. Malachowski is the European champion, as well as the silver medallist at both Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Berlin 2009 World Championships, Hadadi the Asian Games champion, and there is also Vikas Gowda from India, Fernandez from Cuba, Benn Harradine from Australia, Jason Young from USA and Brett Morse from Britain.
You can’t get much more international than that.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
