Libor Charfreitag takes the Hammer Throw title at the IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup in Split (© Getty Images)
The men’s Hammer Throw quickly became a twoman battle with Slovakia’s Libor Charfreitag, the European champion, prevailing over Dilshod Nazarov of Tadjikistan and Team Asia-Pacific.
Charfreitag opened the four-round competition with a 77.76m effort, with Nazarov, who also serves as his nation’s athletics federation’s president, taking the lead in round two with a 78.08m throw. But the Slovak retaliated in the third round, reaching 79.69m to take victory, his first since his triumph at the European Championships, to collect a $30,000 winner’s check and maximum points for Team Europe.
“I’m very pleased with the victory.” Said Charfreitag, who has an 80.59m season’s best. “The pressure I felt was as if it were a Diamond League meeting.”
Nazarov improved to 78.76m in the fourth round to solidify his runner-up position. Ali Mohammed Al-Zinkowi, the Kuwaiti record holder and three-time Asian champion, was third at 76.73m, also from the fourth round.
In a modest competition, no other athletes threw beyond 76 metres.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
