Cantwell, Taylor, Olsen face-off set for Aarhus Games

American shot putter Christian Cantwell, the 2004 World indoor champion and 2006 world leader, will face off against compatrior Dan Taylor and Danish star Joachim Olsen at the Aarhus Games in Aarhus, Denmark, on 29 June.

Cantwell, whose appearance at the Danish meeting will follow-up his competition at the Golden Spike World Athletic Tour stop in Ostrava, is the defending champion, after his 22.04m performance last year.

There the American pair will face the home crowd favourite, Olympic bronze medallist Olsen, in a competition that traditionally has been of a very high standard. Although the meeting will be staged for the 25th time, the men’s Shot  Put has only been on the programme four times before. Yet the stadium has twice seen throws beyond the 22 metre mark: the first was Werner Günthör of Switzerland 22.18m in 1987, before Cantwell’s performance last year.

The American duo then plan to be baseed at the National training centre in Aarhus after the meeting to prepare for the World Championships in Osaka together with their good friend Olsen.

The newly announced Meeting Director of the Aarhus Games is the former international middle distance runner, Tom B. Hansen, who won silver in the men’s 1500m at the 1974 European Championships in Rome.