The qualifying distance was set at 20.30 and 2003 World outdoor champion, Andrey Mikhnevich of Belarus, was first to go through to this evening’s final with a 20.38 heave in round one, quickly followed by world leader this winter, Reese Hoffa of the US who capped Mikhnevich with 20.78: “It went really easy,” said Hoffa. “I thought I had thrown 20m and then it showed 20.76, wow! I now have big plans for the final. I’m going to take a nap and get ready for tonight.”
Defending champion and fellow-American, Christian Cantwell, was the morning’s biggest casualty, finishing on tenth with 19.90, more than a metre below his season’s best. The third qualifier by right was Denmark’s Joachim Olsen, who needed three throws for his 20.33.
Other qualifiers were Pavel Sofin of Russia with a personal best 20.24, Balkan indoor champion Gheorghe Guset of Romania, 20.22, European Indoor Cup winner Tomasz Majewski of Poland, 20.19, Spain’s Manuel Martinez, 20.10 and Russia’s Anton Lyoboslavskiy, 20.04.
Out of contention was German champion Ralf Bartels, second furthest this year with 20.42, who could manage no better than 19.46. Janus Robberts of South Africa also went out, but threw a season’s best of 19.39.
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Defending champion and fellow-American, Christian Cantwell, was the morning’s biggest casualty, finishing on tenth with 19.90, more than a metre below his season’s best. The third qualifier by right was Denmark’s Joachim Olsen, who needed three throws for his 20.33.
Other qualifiers were Pavel Sofin of Russia with a personal best 20.24, Balkan indoor champion Gheorghe Guset of Romania, 20.22, European Indoor Cup winner Tomasz Majewski of Poland, 20.19, Spain’s Manuel Martinez, 20.10 and Russia’s Anton Lyoboslavskiy, 20.04.
Out of contention was German champion Ralf Bartels, second furthest this year with 20.42, who could manage no better than 19.46. Janus Robberts of South Africa also went out, but threw a season’s best of 19.39.
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