A look back at the key moments of 2022 in the throws events

2022 review: throws

Italy has had its fair share of success over the years in jumps, race walks, endurance and sprints, but in 2022 it was the women&rsquo;s hammer that emerged as the country&rsquo;s leading athletics discipline.
Thanks to Sara Fantini and Rachele Mori, it was the only event in which Italy won major championship medals at both the senior and U20 level in 2022.
Fantini earned bronze at the European Championships in Munich, following on from a fourth-placed finish at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, while Mori won gold at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22.
It has been quite the turnaround for a country that had never previously won a global or continental title in the discipline. And given the huge improvements Fantini and Mori have made this year, it wouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise to see both women on major championship podiums in the years to come.
<h2>Fantini&rsquo;s dream of athletics success</h2>
Fantini has been involved in hammer throwing for less than a decade, but she comes from good sporting pedigree. Her father, Corrado, was an Olympic shot put finalist in 1996, while her mother, Paolo Iemma, was a javelin thrower and heptathlete. But despite her parents&rsquo; experience, Fantini was never forced into athletics.
&ldquo;At the beginning I chose my own path and I focused on other sports, like tennis, basketball and horse riding,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to be compared to my parents and I am grateful that they didn&rsquo;t force me to try athletics and gave me the freedom to choose a favourite sport. Ever since I realised that athletics could be part of my life, my parents have always supported me.&rdquo;
Fantini started out in the discus, but when she improved her hammer PB from 49 to 66 metres as an U18 thrower in 2013, she started to dream big. After initially being coached by her mother, Fantini was trained by Nicola Vizzoni in 2015 and then, more recently, by Marinella Vaccari, coach to former national record-holder Ester Balassini.
&ldquo;We are like a family and I have everything I need in my training facility,&rdquo; Fantini says of her training group, which is based at the Carabinieri Sports Group in Bologna and includes fellow hammer throwers Giacomo Proserpio and Lorenzo Del Gatto and discus thrower Diletta Fortuna.
Balassini&rsquo;s Italian record of 73.59m had stood since 2005, but Fantini improved on the mark three times in 2022, first with 74.38m, then 74.86m before throwing 75.77m in Madrid in June.
&ldquo;The first time I set the Italian record in Lucca, I could not believe it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I wanted to break the record, but I didn&rsquo;t expect to improve my previous PB by almost two metres.
&ldquo;To break the record twice in Madrid (first with 75.76m, then 75.77m) was also unexpected,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;But the atmosphere there was great, and it shows that the work I&rsquo;ve done with my coach has paid off.&rdquo;
That performance made Fantini the fourth-best thrower heading into the World Championships. But, as every athlete knows, it&rsquo;s one thing to rank that highly on an entry list; it&rsquo;s another to match it on the results sheet.
She did not disappoint. In a competition where North American women swept the podium, Fantini placed fourth with 73.18m &ndash; the best ever result by an Italian woman in a senior global championships hammer final.
&ldquo;The World Championship was a great competition, and I was very happy with fourth place,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;My season had gone really well up until the World Championships, and everything was unexpected. I was hoping to challenge for the bronze medal in Eugene, but I had a few problems on the eve of the championships and so fourth place was outstanding in the circumstances.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63595568b0617651be43dd49.jpg" alt="Sara Fantini at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Sara Fantini at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 She went one better at the European Championships in Munich one month later, earning bronze with 71.58m. And although she was happy to make it on to the podium, she felt she had more to give.
&ldquo;The World Championships made me aware of my strength, but at the European Championships I realised that I had some weakness,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy that I won a medal, but the bronze was not the result I expected after the records I had achieved in the first half of the season. I should have approached the final in a different way. I hoped to crown a successful season with a perfect competition, but my rivals were better than me.
&ldquo;The European Championships was a learning experience, and this medal confirms that I&rsquo;m moving in the right direction,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;But I have a lot of room for improvement.&rdquo;
<h2>Mori makes history</h2>
In between Fantini&rsquo;s major championship appearances, Rachele Mori was making more hammer history for Italy over in Colombia.
Having already set a national U20 record of 68.04m earlier in the season, the 19-year-old lived up to her status as the gold medal favourite at the World U20 Championships in Cali, emerging victorious with a throw of 67.21m in a competition that was delayed due to heavy rain.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how I managed to win in Cali &ndash; we had to stay in the call room for three hours before the final,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;It started out as a nightmare, but I transformed it into a dream.
&ldquo;When the competition resumed, I felt really good. I felt slight cramps in my calves, but I held on. I felt really emotional when I threw 65.84m in the fourth round; I felt that it was a good throw. I entered the competition as the world leader, but I had to repeat this result in the most important competition of the year.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/635955177004f6a32b016253.jpg" alt="Rachele Mori in the hammer at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22" />
Rachele Mori in the hammer at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Like Fantini, Mori hails from a sporty family. Her uncle, Fabrizio, earned world bronze in the 400m hurdles in 2001 in an Italian record of 47.54, and he was there in Cali to watch his niece strike gold.
&ldquo;When I threw the winning mark, I recognised my uncle&rsquo;s shout from the stands,&rdquo; said Mori. &ldquo;He was very emotional after the competition and even cried.&rdquo;
Mori&rsquo;s father was a thrower and a rower, while her brother Federico plays rugby for the Italian team in the Six Nations. And her cousin Gabriele, Fabrizio&rsquo;s son, finished third in the 100m at the 2020 Italian U18 Championships.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very close to my brother, even though he has lived away from home since he was 15,&rdquo; says Mori. &ldquo;I follow his matches every week and I sometimes travel to Bordeaux to watch him play. He also follows my competitions from a distance.&rdquo;
Mori&rsquo;s big international breakthrough came at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, where she earned silver.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll always remember that first international experience,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It was my first competition abroad with the Italian team and I competed against athletes who were older than me. It&rsquo;s always emotional to represent the Italian team; it pushes me to give my best to honour my country.&rdquo;
One year later, she set her first Italian U20 record, throwing 65.03m in Padua. Her progress has since continued, especially since starting to work with Massimo Terreni in February 2022. At various points throughout the season, Mori has also been advised by Vizzoni and fellow national coach Tonino Andreozzi.
Naturally, she also takes great inspiration from watching her friend and compatriot Fantini compete on the senior international stage.
&ldquo;Sara has always been a role model, and she has given me the motivation to continue improving,&rdquo; says Mori. &ldquo;Throwing events have recently been very successful thanks to our results.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/635954efb82b107466b44669.jpg" alt="Hammer winner Rachele Mori at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22" />
Hammer winner Rachele Mori at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Despite being six years older, Fantini is similarly inspired by Mori&rsquo;s achievements.
&ldquo;Rachele&rsquo;s world title was amazing,&rdquo; says Fantini. &ldquo;We have always had a good relationship and we push each other, so I felt very emotional when she won the world U20 title in Cali. I am so proud of her.
&ldquo;Her world title deserves to be recognised for her commitment and her dedication,&rdquo; adds Fantini. &ldquo;Rachele embodies positive values; she is a perfect example of positivity within sport.&rdquo;
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics

After reaching major championship podiums in 2022, the future looks bright for Italian hammer throwers Sara Fantini and Rachele Mori

Fantini and Mori spinning new golden era for Italian hammer throwers

This year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships Oregon22 was an event of firsts.
It was the first time the championships had taken place in the USA, there were staggering world records by Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault and Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m hurdles, medal sweeps in both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 100m and an unprecedented fifth successive gold in the men&rsquo;s hammer by Pawel Fajdek of Poland.
But perhaps it was the women&rsquo;s hammer that saw the most significant first &ndash; potentially marking a new era for the event.&nbsp;
It was the first time no European athlete made the podium, with North American athletes taking gold, silver and bronze, signifying a changing of the guard with a new continent as the dominant force.&nbsp;
It was also only the fifth time in any throws event &ndash; men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s &ndash; where there were no European medallists in the World Championships, the others being women&rsquo;s javelin and men&rsquo;s shot put, both in Doha in 2019 and Oregon in 2022.
The men&rsquo;s shot in Eugene also saw a historic 1-2-3 for the USA, but that, of course, is already an event with a rich American heritage. Not so the women&rsquo;s hammer, until recent years.
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<h2>Hammering home the point</h2>
It&rsquo;s not just championship podiums where North American women are starting to dominate &ndash; it&rsquo;s also on the world lists.
North American women now make up half of the world all-time top 10. Of all the throwers in history to have thrown beyond 74 metres &ndash; usually the benchmark of where major medals are won &ndash; the USA makes up the biggest share at 20%. That&rsquo;s a significant increase on the national split compared to 10 years ago.
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/631f6834b64afaa2b3b56f31.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
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 In the absence of Poland&rsquo;s four-time world champion Anita Wlodarczyk due to a knee injury, there was a breakthrough title by DeAnna Price in Doha in 2019.&nbsp;
The ebullient Price staked a further claim on global leadership in the event by setting a North American record of 80.31m to win the US Olympic Trials in June 2021, becoming only the second woman after Wlodarczyk to throw beyond 80 metres.&nbsp;
However, carrying multiple injuries in her leg, hip and foot, Price could only battle to eighth place at the Tokyo Olympics a few weeks later as the iconic Wlodarczyk took her third successive Olympic gold.&nbsp;
And from the flowering of North American women&rsquo;s hammer throwing through Price, there was a full bloom in Eugene. The unlucky Price was absent from Eugene through Covid-19 and so too was Wlodarczyk through a thigh injury.
But both would have had to have been near their absolute best to have changed the outcome at the top of the podium. USA&rsquo;s Brooke Anderson won gold with 78.96m &ndash; the second-best winning throw in World Championships history &ndash; and, in a demonstration of the new depth of North American hammer throwing, Camryn Rogers of Canada took silver with 75.62m and Andersen&rsquo;s US teammate Janee Kassanavoid claimed bronze with 74.86m. Another Canadian thrower, Jillian Weir placed fifth with 72.41m.
Despite Wlodarczyk&rsquo;s unfortunate absence &ndash; an injury brought on by chasing a car thief &ndash; Andersen&rsquo;s victory was a fair reflection of a season in which she held the world-leading throw of 79.02m and won eight of 10 competitions she took part in.&nbsp;&nbsp;
For Andersen it was her third senior global championships and indicative of her upward trajectory after placing 20th in qualifying at the 2019 World Championships and 10th in the Olympic final last year.&nbsp;
Rogers is an athlete who has shown huge promise, ever since winning Pan-American U20 gold in 2017 and world U20 gold in Tampere in 2018. Silver in Oregon, in what was the 23-year-old&rsquo;s first senior World Championships, was a huge result. Before then, she had won the NCAA title with a collegiate record of 77.67m, and she ended her season by claiming the Commonwealth title.
Kassanavoid also celebrated her first appearance at a World Championships with a medal, as she took bronze. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/631f6765b64afaa2b3b56f2b.jpg" alt="Brooke Andersen in the hammer at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Brooke Andersen in the hammer at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 With all three athletes in their mid-twenties, they each still have several years ahead of them to chase the major prizes in the sport and forge a new North American dynasty.
&ldquo;It is amazing to carry on DeAnna&rsquo;s mission and keep it in the United States,&rdquo; Andersen said after her Oregon victory, evoking a sense of a new chapter in the event.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Like Andersen and Kassanavoid, Rogers&rsquo; success is a product of the US collegiate system. Having completed her competitive collegiate duties, Rogers is ready for the big challenges ahead.
&ldquo;I could not be more grateful to have finished my NCAA season so strong and my entire NCAA collegiate career,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Every meet we went in with a plan. We came in with a same plan: to execute and get the job done. Everything we are doing, we are on the right path. There is still more to go and that&rsquo;s one of the most exciting parts.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/631f67d7b64afaa2b3b56f2e.jpg" alt="Camryn Rogers at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Camryn Rogers at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Kassanavoid is arguably the one who still has the furthest to go in fulfilling her potential and the rawest talent of all. &ldquo;I am probably one of the weakest hammer throwers in the field,&rdquo; she said when quizzed on her strength.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I came from a lot of knee surgeries. The more time I have in training to develop special strength in the weight room, the better. I still have a lot of progression to make. I&rsquo;ve got to keep actively working. The better you get, the harder it is to get better.&nbsp; But still, I am happy with being consistent at 74-78 metres.&rdquo;
She was also a relative late comer to the event, having taken part in soccer, gymnastics, basketball, softball and dance in her youth, rather than track and field. &ldquo;I have a lot of natural raw talent as an athlete, being dynamic, powerful and strong.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At a young age, I learned all those fundamental skills of balance, speed and flexibility,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;All of that has progressed very fast and well with hammer. It takes a lot of skills that a lot of people don&rsquo;t recognise in the ring, what happens in six to 10 seconds. All that has helped me a lot in working progressively with my coach.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
She is pleased to see the collective success of US teammates like Andersen and Price, for whom she has a healthy respect. &ldquo;We are doing great. I&rsquo;m super happy and super proud of everyone. Track and field is a very hard sport &ndash; you have to have a lot of intrinsic motivation.
&ldquo;Your train by yourself, you can&rsquo;t always train with your coach. So, it&rsquo;s finding ways and how bad you want it.&rdquo; She also says that there is more to come from the US conveyor of throws talent.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We have revolutionised a whole bunch these past couple of years. And there&rsquo;s a bunch of people still coming in. Everyone is continuing to learn new things and bring their strengths to the table. As long as I am staying happy and healthy, I have a lot more years in this sport to progress.&nbsp; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/631f6743b64afaa2b3b56f28.jpg" alt="Janee Kassanavoid at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Janee Kassanavoid at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 &ldquo;Other girls could be learning from me,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;I could be a leader and a role model for those youth girls wanting to throw hammer. They could be as good if not better than me. But I hope to perform well enough to keep my name around.&rdquo;
And while she is enjoying the rising success of the USA scene, she leaves no doubts over her personal ambitions.
&ldquo;I am an athlete; I am a competitor at heart,&rdquo; said Kassanavoid, the only woman this year to beat Andersen. &ldquo;The goal is to be the best and make history continuously.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If everyone is competing at a high level, there&rsquo;s going to be records broken, there&rsquo;s going to be high level competitions. Of course, we all wish each other well, but at the end of the day, we are going for gold.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s that type of keen domestic rivalry that has kept Polish hammer throwing at the forefront internationally through the likes of Wlodarczyk, Malwina Kopron and Joanna Fiodorow in the women&rsquo;s event and Fajdek and Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki in the men&rsquo;s event over the past decade.
And although Wlodarczyk intends to compete until the Paris 2024 Olympics, it is North American athletes who look set to be dominant force of women&rsquo;s hammer throwing through the coming era.
Chris Broadbent for World Athletics

The results of the women's hammer at the World Championships marked a new era for the event

Andersen, Rogers and Kassanavoid lead new era for North American hammer throwers

It&rsquo;s a measure of Pawel Fajdek&rsquo;s attitude, and his ambition, that when you ask the 33-year-old Pole how many world titles he thinks he can win, he doesn&rsquo;t just look to next year and the chance to equal the all-time record in an individual event, but onwards to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I want seven,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I will be trying to do this. It&rsquo;s not that long to next year and Budapest, then we have the Olympics, and then Tokyo. I can be the first man to take seven gold medals in a row &ndash; I&rsquo;ll be focused on that.&rdquo;
The current record in an individual event is six, held by Sergey Bubka, but at the&nbsp;World Athletics Championships Oregon22, Fajdek drew closer to the pole vault legend, winning his fifth consecutive world title in the hammer. From Moscow to Beijing to London, from Doha to Eugene, Fajdek has been indomitable at the World Championships for the past decade. &nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/630df20c3819d99418d5845f.jpg" alt="Poland's Pawel Fajdek reacts to his throw at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Poland's Pawel Fajdek reacts to his throw at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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For an athlete so accomplished, it seems an anomaly that he has yet to win an Olympic title, and after underperforming at both the London and Rio Olympics &ndash; knocked out in qualifying at both &ndash; Fajdek finally won his first Olympic medal last year, at the age of 32, taking bronze in Tokyo.
Given his prior dominance, did that loss trigger his motivation for 2022?&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always motivated,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;We are not the football players, we have to improve every year to earn money and that&rsquo;s also the reason I&rsquo;m still motivated. I have a daughter, so I have to plan her future, and mine also.&rdquo;
Fajdek&rsquo;s daughter, Laila, is seven, and she has already developed a good understanding of her father&rsquo;s achievements, and why at certain times of the year he needs to be away from home for long stretches. &ldquo;She misses me all the time, she&rsquo;s crying too much,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I miss her too and it&rsquo;s hard when you have to fly to different countries or continents, but she&rsquo;s strong, also supporting me.&rdquo;
On 15 July, the opening morning of the World Championships in Oregon, Laila was watching from the family home near Warsaw as her dad launched an 80.09m effort to advance to the following day&rsquo;s final. &ldquo;She was happy she saw me on TV, she always crosses her fingers for me,&rdquo; says Fajdek.&nbsp;
Going into the final, Fajdek was in an unusual position of being the underdog. He and his compatriot Wojciech Nowicki had clashed many times over the years, with Fajdek currently leading the tally 87-28. But in recent years the trend was changing, with Nowicki winning Olympic gold in Tokyo, throwing 82.52m to Fajdek&rsquo;s 81.53m.&nbsp; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/630df2423819d99418d58462.jpg" alt="Poland's Pawel Fajdek and Wojciech Nowicki at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Poland's Pawel Fajdek and Wojciech Nowicki at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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In 2022, Nowicki continued to have the upper hand, winning five of their seven clashes before they renewed that rivalry in Oregon. It had been a difficult season for Fajdek. &ldquo;The hardest moment was April, May,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was throwing very nice in March and then something happened. I was too strong, I lost my technique and I had to spend a lot of weeks with the hammer to take it back.&rdquo;
In his coach, Szymon Ziolkowski, Fajdek had a mentor who knew exactly what he was dealing with. Ziolkowski was the Olympic champion in the hammer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and continued competing at a world-class level until 2014, when he was 38.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He was in the same place, like me, and he knows how to train at that age &ndash; what we have to do, what we shouldn&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; says Fajdek. &ldquo;I trust him. He trusts me. We&rsquo;re a great team.&rdquo;
This is their second year working together and Fajdek says &ldquo;nothing special changed&rdquo; in training this year, but now that he&rsquo;s advancing into his 30s he has to be a little smarter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m older so I have to rest more,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m still in good shape.&rdquo;
With the men&rsquo;s hammer final taking place at midday in Oregon, it was a convenient time for many Poles to tune in back home, waiting to see which of their hammer greats would reign supreme. Fajdek felt the weight of expectation &ndash; not that that was a bad thing.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You always feel stressed but it was a good stress,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was focused on the warm-up and felt a little nervous but after the first throw, it was only 74, I knew I could throw far. I had good feelings with the hammer.&rdquo;
He channeled those feelings into his second effort, 80.58m, which moved him up to second behind Norway&rsquo;s Eivind Henriksen, who had edged Fajdek to silver in last year&rsquo;s Olympic final. In the third round, Fajdek launched an 81.98m throw, which at the time was a world lead by a whopping 86cm.&nbsp;
Mission accomplished. As Fajdek put it: &ldquo;No one could catch me this time.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/630df1b63819d99418d5845c.jpg" alt="Poland's Pawel Fajdek kisses the throwing circle after winning his fifth world hammer title in Oregon" />
Poland's Pawel Fajdek kisses the throwing circle after winning his fifth world hammer title in Oregon (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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He took a week off after that victory before resuming training for the European Championships in Munich, his preparations interrupted due to an airline losing his gear and much of his training equipment when on the journey home from Oregon.&nbsp;
Fajdek breezed through qualification in Munich with the leading mark, 79.76m, but in the final the following night he was off his best. He threw 79.15m to finish fourth, with Nowicki bettering Fajdek&rsquo;s world lead to win gold with 82.00m. Afterwards Fajdek pointed to a delay in the programme due to a thunderstorm as a reason for his slightly sub-par effort, but he reminded those watching he had won the title he wanted most this year.&nbsp;
All in all, he had to be happy with the season, especially given the difficulties that preceded it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Last year I had a little problem with my body, it was hard after three, four years with a back problem, knee problem,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But now finally I feel healthy and I can train.&rdquo;
The medal in Tokyo last year brought financial support from the Polish government, which is allowing Fajdek to &ldquo;only focus on myself and throwing&rdquo; for the years to come. &ldquo;The medal (made) me more comfy in my life,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp;
Still, he&rsquo;s just as motivated as ever, with his Polish record of 83.93m, set in 2015, one of his next targets. &ldquo;I hope I can throw around that or even farther,&rdquo; he says.
He&rsquo;ll be 34 in Budapest next year, 35 for Paris in 2024 and 36 for Tokyo in 2025. There may be many rivers to cross before he would have a chance to win a seventh world title in a single event, but the idea of doing so &ndash; and going where no athlete has ever been &ndash; is something that&rsquo;s already in his sights.&nbsp;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

"I can be the first man to take seven gold medals in a row – I'll be focused on that"

After five world title wins, Fajdek is focused on making more hammer history

Two days after winning the women&rsquo;s hammer throw at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, Brooke Andersen presented the singlet and bib she wore during the competition to World Athletics President Sebastian Coe for inclusion in the World Athletics Heritage collection, which is displayed in the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)</a>.
Trailing Canada&rsquo;s Camryn Rogers (75.52m) and US teammate Janee' Kassanavoid (74.86m) after the first three rounds, the favoured Andersen, the 2022 world leader with a personal best throw of 79.02m in April, took the lead for good with her fourth-round throw of 77.42m (a foul was initially called, but she immediately protested and the ruling was quickly reviewed and overturned), then improved to 77.56m in the fifth round.
After Rogers failed to improve on her final throw, Andersen, introduced by the stadium announcer&nbsp;as the world champion before the last throw of the competition, managed to control her emotions and saved her best for last, reaching 78.96,m the second-longest throw of her career.
Nathan Ott, her long-time coach, said: &ldquo;Not many people watched this closely but Brooke caged both of her warm up throws. Obviously this was not what we planned or expected. Beyond some technical cues, it was important to convey: relax, breath, and trust yourself.&rdquo;
He added: &ldquo;The goal of the first two throws was just to put a fair throw between the lines. Brooke's first throw was similar to her warm ups but she guided it to the sector, at nearly 75m. It was an excellent start; maybe enough to medal. The plan was to build from there but the second and third throws were too fast and not connected, resulting in a foul and a 72m.
"At this point, Brooke had fallen to third place and was understandably frustrated. We spoke twice in the time between throws three and four. A technical cue was important but more importantly the nerves had settled and the switch had flipped. She was visibly more dialed in, telling herself that she had this. 
"Brooke's fourth throw was much better but was called as a foot foul. Thankfully it was quickly reviewed and overturned: 77.42m. This moved Brooke to the top spot but because we have such respect for the field of athletes, the message was we still needed to improve and respond. Put better throws out there. The final two throws were Brooke being Brooke, showcasing all her development this year. This win validates all the belief and trust in herself as well as in me and the training plan. There are always uncertainties no matter how well prepared you think you are.&rdquo;
The 26-year old Andersen said after the event: &ldquo;It hasn't really quite set in yet. I was looking out across the field and I thought to myself, I'm a world champion. I'm just very fortunate to have the competition I did have. I knew if I stayed in it and focused on the little things I could control, hopefully the performance would get better and (earn) a gold medal. 
"I will just remember shaking everyone's hand, taking pictures with my supporters. I appreciate them to the max &ndash; my country, my coach, myself, family, supporters. I thank everyone who has helped me get to this point in my career.&rdquo;
It was a third consecutive global championships for Andersen, the fourth best thrower in history. She didn&rsquo;t make the final at the 2019 World Championships while dealing with an injured hip, and was 10th at the Tokyo Olympics. She was also third at the 2018 NACAC Championships in Toronto, Canada,&nbsp;and was the silver medallist at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. She won her first US title in June of this year.
It had been a challenging pandemic year leading up to the Olympics for Andersen. Much of her training had taken place in a public park, throwing from a sidewalk. Since the nearby community centre had been turned into a vaccination centre, she started getting more spectators. 
&ldquo;Most people are just excited and they liked to watch me while they&rsquo;re waiting in line for their vaccines,&rdquo; she said. She also hurt her shoulder and suffered a concussion when she took a fall in April 2021.
<h2>Marine biologist in waiting</h2>
As a youngster, her first passion was football, playing for 14 years in youth leagues and at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, California. <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/story/2022-07-17/brooke-andersen-rancho-buena-vista-soccer-player-world-championships-hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">She wanted to be the next Mia Hamm</a>, who was a star on the US football teams that won two Olympic and two World Cup titles.
When she joined the track team in her first year in high school, she wanted to try the long jump and sprints, but her coaches decided she&rsquo;d be more suited for the shot put and discus. She tried those events for awhile before turning her attention to the javelin (for about three weeks) and eventually to the hammer. She would often attend practice sessions for the hammer and football on the same day.
Her performances in the throws didn&rsquo;t merit many scholarship offers from college coaches in the US, but she eventually accepted a modest package from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. It was there that she started to blossom under the watchful eye of coach Ott, who started her on a weight training program that would eventually lead to a gain of 27kg of muscle to her frame.
She threw 59.37m in her first full year in the hammer in 2014, and has shown steady improvement ever since then:
2015&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 65.30m 2016&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 65.50m 2017&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 68.62m 2018&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 74.20m 2019&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 76.75m 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 78.18m 2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 79.02m (she didn&rsquo;t compete in 2020)
She would finish second at the 2017 and 2018 NCAA Championships and followed coach Ott when he switched from Northern Arizona to Kansas State, and then again when he took a coaching position at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where she serves as a volunteer assistant coach.
As for the future, Ott said: &ldquo;Beyond this season we are looking to keep improving. Brooke is still young and has plenty of room to develop further. 80m is a real possibility soon and once you are there, the AR and WR are the next goals.&rdquo;
And her 2022 season is not done yet, with competitions planned in Poland and Hungary, as well as at the NACAC Championships in The Bahamas.
Andersen, who recently signed a multi-year deal with Nike, outlined her own goals, both as an athlete and beyond: &ldquo;Hopefully in my career I can win more medals and especially an Olympic medal. In the distant future I've thought about coaching and giving back to the sport that gave so much to me. 
"I also majored in Environmental Science Management and International Forestry and minored in Biology and Business. I would really love to one day become a conservationist or marine biologist. I've been wanting to do that ever since I was young - growing up so close to the ocean, I just have a deep love for sea life and marine animals."
Walt Murphy for World Athletics Heritage

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

Two days after winning the world hammer title, Brooke Andersen presented the singlet and bib she wore to World Athletics President Sebastian Coe

"From sidewalk to world champion" – Andersen donates Oregon singlet to MOWA

More than 1500 athletes from 145 teams are set to compete at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 between 1-6 August.
Here we take a look at the women's and men's throwing events at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s shot put</h2>
The gold and silver medallists from last year's World U20 Championships in Nairobi go head-to-head again. South Africa&rsquo;s Mine de Klerk and Turkey&rsquo;s Pinar Akyol have PBs just 10cm apart - Akyol having thrown 17.65m in May 2021 and De Klerk setting an area U20 record of 17.55m in the February. When it comes to performances this year, Akyol leads the way with her 17.46m indoor PB set in January, while her best outdoor performance this season is 16.53m. De Klerk, meanwhile, leads the season top list with her 17.19m from April&rsquo;s Hayward Premiere at Hayward Field, which recently welcomed athletes for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Now studying at the University of Oregon, De Klerk is sure to have been inspired by the performances taking place on her university campus. De Klerk also secured silver in the discus in Nairobi and is set to double up again in Cali.
Separating the pair when it comes to performances this year is Germany&rsquo;s European U20 bronze medallist Nina Ndubuisi. The 18-year-old threw a 17.27m PB indoors and has recorded 17.01m this season. On paper, this would look to be the battle for the medals, the trio being the 17 metre-plus throwers in the field, but Amelia Flynt won the US U20 title and has thrown a 16.53m PB this year, while Germany&rsquo;s Jaqueline Gippner and Czech Republic&rsquo;s Katrin Brzyszkowska have also achieved PBs surpassing 16 metres this season. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s shot put</h2>
Germany&rsquo;s Tizian Lauria tops this year&rsquo;s global list with the 21.15m PB he threw in June, a mark that adds more than a metre and a half to his best with the 6kg implement before this year. He has also thrown 20 metres or further on six other occasions this year, including when winning at the BAUHAUS Junioren-Gala in Mannheim at the start of July.
He is one of four athletes on the entry list to have surpassed that 20-metre mark, including his compatriot Lukas Schober, the national U20 champion. The 17-year-old threw 20.16m when winning that German title.
Joining them at the top of the entry list are Jamaican duo Christopher Young and Kobe Lawrence. Young claimed wins at the Jamaican Championships and ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Champs ahead of Lawrence, but Lawrence turned the tables at the CARIFTA Games, going beyond 20 metres for the first time with 20.02m. Young&rsquo;s PB is 20.20m, while Lawrence has the benefit of experience, having made the final at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi last year. South African U20 champion Aiden Smith is also just behind them with 19.99m this year. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s discus</h2>
Sweden&rsquo;s Emma Sralla and Jamaica&rsquo;s Cedricka Williams have both thrown beyond 56 metres this year, US-based Sralla leading the entries with her 56.38m national U20 record from Mckinney in April and Williams improving her PB to 56.21m when winning the Jamaican title in June.
South Africa&rsquo;s Mine de Klerk is a couple of metres behind them when it comes to performances this season, but she improved her PB to an area U20 record of 54.22m in March and has great experience to call upon, claiming a surprise silver last year.
&ldquo;I definitely wanted to win a medal in the shot put, gold was my goal,&rdquo; said last year&rsquo;s champion in that discipline. &ldquo;In the discus, I didn&rsquo;t expect to get a medal at all. I just came to enjoy it. When I got the silver I was blown away.&rdquo;
Williams was also in that world U20 final, securing seventh place.
US U20 champion Siniru Iheoma and runner-up Ames Burton are the other 54 metre-plus throwers in the field, respectively having improved their PBs to 54.47m and 54.08m this year. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s discus</h2>
Germany&rsquo;s Mika Sosna made history earlier this year, breaking the world U20 record with the 1.75kg discus in June as he threw 71.37m in Schonebeck. That improved on the 70.13m record set by Ukraine&rsquo;s Mykyta Nesterenko in 2008 and is almost two metres further than&nbsp;Sosna's&nbsp;nearest rival this year, his teammate Marius Karges.
Sosna suffered injury after his record-breaking throw but rebounded to win the German title with a 64.92m performance, while Karges threw 64.11m for the runner-up spot. Their PBs put the pair more than six metres ahead of the rest of the entries, though Spain&rsquo;s Marcos Moreno and Jamaica&rsquo;s Kobe Lawrence will also be among those in the hunt for a medal, both having surpassed 62 metres this year. Lawrence is doubling up with the shot put and won the Jamaican U20 and CARIFTA Games discus titles, while placing second at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Champs. His teammate Christopher Young was runner-up at the Jamaican U20 Championships and CARIFTA Games and is also doing the throws double in Cali, with a discus PB of 61.66m from February.
Moreno was ninth in the world U20 final last year, one place ahead of Dimitrios Pavlidis of Greece, who also returns. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s hammer&nbsp;</h2>
Rachele Mori has thrown an Italian U20 record of 68.04m this year to lead the entries for Cali by more than two metres. That performance came at the Meeting Internazionale Citta' di Lucca and the 19-year-old also won the national U20 title as well as placing runner-up at the senior event in Rieti in June. She has thrown beyond 65 metres in a total of six competitions this season.
Should all go to season&rsquo;s form, Mori &ndash; who finished sixth in Nairobi last year &ndash; should be going for gold this time, but there could be a close battle for the other podium places.
Her closest challengers look to be German U20 champion Jada Julien and Czech U20 title winner Barbora Stejfova, who have both gone beyond 65 metres this year with respective PB performances of 65.90m and 65.20m. Stejfova also made the final last year.
Emily Fink improved her best to 63.60m in May and secured her spot on the team for Cali by winning the US title, while Audrey Jacobs claimed both the Dutch senior and U20 titles and threw her 63.52m PB in June.&nbsp;Valentina Savva of Cyprus was fifth in the world U20 final last year and the 17-year-old recently claimed the European U18 title in Jerusalem. She threw a national U20 record of 62.70m in June.&nbsp; 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s hammer</h2>
In an event featuring five athletes to have gone beyond 75 metres this season, it is Hungary&rsquo;s Miklos Cseko who leads them all with the 78.44m PB he threw at the International U20 Match in Maribor earlier this month. The national U20 champion has surpassed 75 metres in five competitions this season.&nbsp;
In the medal hunt, there looks set to be a strong Greek domestic battle between Nikolaos Polychroniou and Ioannis Korakidis, with the pair separated by only 20 centimetres &ndash; 77.72m to 77.52m &ndash; this season. The now US-based Polychroniou won the national U20 title earlier this year, while Korakidis was runner-up behind him at the Greek U20 Championships. Slovenia&rsquo;s Jan Embersic and USA&rsquo;s Tarik O'Hagan have both also surpassed 75 metres this season, respectively throwing 76.79m and 75.08m PBs. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s javelin</h2>
Serbia&rsquo;s Adriana Vilagos won last year&rsquo;s world U20 javelin gold at the age of 17 and she is now one of the big favourites to retain her title, having thrown three-and-a-half metres further than any of her rivals this season. Holder of the world U18 best, Vilagos has since thrown a national U20 record of 62.76m this year and has won eight of her 10 competitions this season, including at the Balkan Championships, Mediterranean Games, Serbian Championships and Serbian U20 Championships.
There are a number of athletes who could challenge for medals. South Africa&rsquo;s McKyla van der Westhuizen claimed silver at the African Championships last month and will be looking to build on her sixth-place in Nairobi last year, while Fanni Kover has only lost once so far this season and that was at the senior Hungarian Championships. Their fellow 57 metre-plus thrower Momoko Tsuji, the Japan U20 champion, competes, as does her compatriot Aoi Murakami, who threw a PB of 56.30m in Tokyo in June.&nbsp; 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s javelin</h2>
If he achieves a mark close to his world U20 leading PB of 84.32m, then Ukraine&rsquo;s Artur Felfner looks tough to beat in the men&rsquo;s javelin. The 18-year-old leads the entries by more than four metres, his PB putting him fourth on the world U20 all-time list led by India&rsquo;s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. As a 17-year-old, Felfner secured silver at last year&rsquo;s event in Nairobi, also claiming the European U20 title, and now he will be going for global gold.
CARIFTA Games winner Keyshawn Strachan of The Bahamas is this season&rsquo;s No.2 and has ambitions of achieving an 85 metre throw to build on the national record of 79.89m he set in April. He also has experience of competing at the event, having placed seventh in Kenya last year. The top three on the entry list have all surpassed 78 metres this year, Felfner and Strachan joined by Germany&rsquo;s 17-year-old Max Dehning, who improved his PB to 78.80m when winning at the BAUHAUS Junioren Gala in Mannheim earlier this month. He also claimed the German U20 title and threw 78.05m in Halle in May.
Also looking to make an impact will be Dehning&rsquo;s teammate Simon Schmitt, the German U20 Championships runner-up, as well as Hungary&rsquo;s Gyorgy Herczeg and Cypriot champion Eleftherios Kontonikolas.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

A look at the women's and men's shot put, discus, hammer and javelin

WU20 Cali 22 preview: throws

Brooke Andersen already had the gold medal in hand, so she didn&rsquo;t need a big final throw on Sunday (17) in the women&rsquo;s hammer at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Andersen delivered one anyway.
The US champion unleashed a monster throw of 78.96m, just six centimetres shy of her PB &ndash; the world-leading 79.02m from April.
Andersen, 26, bowed, grinned and then held back tears. She won the second straight title in the event for the US, who had never even made the world hammer podium before Andersen&rsquo;s compatriot DeAnna Price claimed the gold in 2019.
&ldquo;My emotions are all over the place,&rdquo; Andersen said. &ldquo;At the end of the day it&rsquo;s still competition, so I want to throw my best.&rdquo;
The whole podium was composed entirely of North Americans, an unprecedented occasion in a throwing event, men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s, at the World Championships. Camryn Rogers, the NCAA champion, took second with 75.52m to win Canada&rsquo;s first World Championships medal in the hammer. Janee&rsquo; Kassanavoid captured the bronze (74.86m), giving the US two medallists for the first time.
Andersen, who placed 10th in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo last summer, arrived in Eugene as the favourite, especially with two of her toughest rivals forced to sit out the competition. Price was recovering from a tough bout with Covid-19 and four-time world champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland recently sustained a muscle injury while going after a thief who broke into her car.
Andersen quickly took the lead on her first attempt at 74.81m. She fouled on her second and was overtaken by Kassanavoid on her first legal throw (74.86m).
Rogers, who finished fifth in Tokyo, took command in the third round with 75.52m, but Andersen was just getting warmed up. She regained the upper hand in the fourth round with a heave of 77.42m and improved to 77.56m in the fifth.
Kassanavoid, her bronze medal assured, threw 74.75m on her final attempt, while Rogers summoned up a toss of 74.36m to remain in silver-medal position.
Then it was Andersen&rsquo;s turn to put an exclamation point on the competition.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a throw I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll ever forget,&rdquo; she said of her 78.96m heave, &ldquo;just having all that energy.&rdquo;
She said the crowd at Hayward Field started clapping in anticipation. &ldquo;Usually I don&rsquo;t throw on a clap,&rdquo; Andersen said. &ldquo;I just couldn&rsquo;t shut it down because it felt right, my last throw and home stadium.&rdquo;
Andersen has a long history at Hayward Field. In 2014, she competed at the World U20 Championships in Eugene, placing 21st with 54.64m. In June, she won her first national title on this same field.
Andersen has lost only once this year, and that was to Kassanavoid.
&ldquo;I knew that coming into this competition all these ladies are amazing throwers,&rdquo; Andersen said. &ldquo;I knew I was going to have to bring my &lsquo;A&rsquo; game. Unfortunately, the first three throws didn&rsquo;t go as well.&rdquo;
But her final three hit the spot.
Kassanavoid, 27, who has a season&rsquo;s best of 78.00m and was the national indoor weight throw champion, said it was exciting to &ldquo;have this huge performance on this huge scale in front of the United States on native soil.&rdquo;
The 23-year-old Rogers said she watched many of her competitors for years. &ldquo;To be throwing with them is an incredible feeling,&rdquo; she said.
Italy&rsquo;s Sara Fantini, who had briefly moved into second place early in the competition, settled for fourth with 73.18m, while Canada&rsquo;s Jillian Weir gave her country two athletes in the top five, finishing with 72.41m. Bianca Florentina Ghelber of Romania, the oldest finalist at age 32, placed ahead of Finland&rsquo;s Silja Kosonen, the youngest at age 19. Ghelber threw 72.25m for sixth place, equalling her Tokyo Olympic placement, while Kosonen&rsquo;s best toss was 70.81m.
Kassanavoid said she&rsquo;s known her fellow medallists her whole career. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve all come so far,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;My goal is to inspire and empower the next generation of athletes and if that&rsquo;s female hammer throwers &ndash; to be a leader, to be a role model &ndash; that&rsquo;s all I can do. Hopefully, everyone has self-confidence and loves their strong bodies and can come out here and win medals.&rdquo;
Karen Rosen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S HAMMER MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Brooke Andersen 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">78.96m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Camryn Rogers 🇨🇦 CAN</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">75.52m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Janee' Kassanavoid 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">74.86m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/results/women/hammer-throw/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

Women's hammer report

Andersen wins USA’s second straight world hammer title to lead North American sweep

Pawel Fajdek&rsquo;s status as an all-time great of the sport was well and truly cemented on Saturday (16) at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 as the Pole won his fifth successive world hammer title.
Only one athlete in history &ndash; pole vault legend Sergey Bubka &ndash; has won more world titles in a single discipline.
Fajdek produced a world-leading throw of 81.98m &ndash; the longest distance of any of his world title-winning marks &ndash; to win from compatriot and Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki (81.03m) and Norway&rsquo;s Eivind Henriksen (80.87m). The same three men shared a podium at the Tokyo Olympics last year, albeit in a different order.
France&rsquo;s Quentin Bigot and Hungary&rsquo;s Bence Halasz, silver and bronze medallists respectively in Doha three years ago, made an impact in round one. Bigot took an early lead with 79.52m and Halasz was close behind with 79.12m, both men throwing farther than they did to earn medals in Doha.
But in a competitive final like today, their marks didn&rsquo;t stay at the top of the leaderboard for long.
Round two kicked off with the first 80-metre throw of the competition as Nowicki sent his hammer out to 80.07m to take the lead. But Henriksen responded with 80.87m to bump the Pole off the top spot. Fajdek, who had opened with a modest 74.71m, found his groove in round two and landed a throw of 80.58m to knock Nowicki further down the pecking order.
Nowicki responded with a third-round throw of 81.03m to take the lead, but it was short lived because Fajdek produced the eventual winning mark of 81.98m later that round.
Bigot and Halasz also came back fighting in that round as both men threw beyond 80 metres, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough to get among the medal placings. Bigot threw 80.24m, while Halasz set a PB of 80.15m.
There were no changes to the positions after the third round, though several of the finalists got close to the 80-metre line. Further down the field, US duo Rudy Winkler (78.99m) and Daniel Haugh (78.10m) finished sixth and eighth respectively. Ukraine&rsquo;s Mykhaylo Kokhan finished between them in seventh (78.83m).
&ldquo;This was the competition that matters the most this year, so I am glad that the major gold is in my hand for the fifth time,&rdquo; said Fajdek. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret that I was aiming to break the championship record (83.63m), but next year I&rsquo;ll have another chance in Budapest.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">MEN'S HAMMER MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Pawel Fajdek 🇵🇱 POL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">81.98m WL</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Wojciech Nowicki 🇵🇱 POL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">81.03m SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Eivind Henriksen 🇳🇴 NOR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">80.87m SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/results/men/hammer-throw/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

Pole takes fifth title with world-leading 81.98m

Fajdek makes history in Oregon with fifth world hammer title

<h2>Men's hammer</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/men/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/hammer-throw/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/men/senior/2022?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Which Pole will it be this time?
For much of the past decade, the men&rsquo;s hammer has been dominated by Poland&rsquo;s Wojciech Nowicki and Pawel Fajdek. They have faced off 113 times over their career with Fajdek finishing ahead of Nowicki in 88 of the competitions.
Fajdek has saved his greatest performances for the World Athletics Championships as he is the winner of the past four editions. Nowicki has earned bronze at the past three World Championships, but he got the better of Fajdek on the sport&rsquo;s grandest stage last year when winning the Olympic title in Tokyo.
In 2022, Nowicki holds the world-leading throw of 81.58m, which he produced in Chorzow on 5 June. Fajdek is not far behind with his winning throw of 80.56m at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
Fajdek enters the event looking for his fifth world title. He&rsquo;ll need to channel one of those past performances that he&rsquo;s produced at the past World Championships to take down Nowicki. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/18708d26-4d21-45a3-a0b1-2740bd600314.jpg" alt="Pawel Fajdek spins to his fourth world title in Doha" />
Pawel Fajdek spins to his fourth world title in Doha (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
 Apart from the Poles, Ukraine&rsquo;s Mykhaylo Kokhan, Norway&rsquo;s Eivind Henriksen and France&rsquo;s Quentin Bigot are at the top of the field.
Kokhan, 21, finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, having previously beaten Fajdek and Nowicki in July 2021 in Szekesfehervar, where he threw a PB of 80.78m. He has yet to produce a throw over 80 meters this season, but he has a proven track record at championships and could be timing his peak for Oregon.
Henriksen earned Olympic silver ahead of Fajdek last year silver, adding more than three metres to his PB in the process. He has had an up-and-down season in 2022, but recently threw 80.17m &ndash; the second-best mark of his career. Like Kokhan, Henriksen has a knack for turning it up at the biggest meets and could do it again at the World Championships.
Bigot earned silver at the 2019 World Championships and has stayed consistent since then. He joined the 80-metre club this year, setting PBs of 80.14m in May and 80.55m in June. The latter came in Chorzow where, as was the case at the 2019 World Championships, he was sandwiched between Fajdek and Nowicki, only this time with the Poles in reverse order.
Hungary&rsquo;s Bence Halasz and US duo Daniel Haugh and Rudy Winkler round out the field. Halasz earned bronze at the 2019 World Championships. Haugh and Winkler finished first and second respectively at the US Championships in June with Haugh setting a PB of 80.18m.
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's hammer</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/women/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/hammer-throw/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/women/senior/2022?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Anita Wlodarczyk has been atop the women&rsquo;s hammer for the past 13 years, winning four world titles and three Olympic gold medals. But she won&rsquo;t be competing at World Athletics Championships Oregon22 after sustaining a muscle injury while apprehending a thief who had broken into her car.
And DeAnna Price, winner of the hammer at the 2019 World Championships, won't defend her title in Oregon after recently contracting covid, severely hampering her training at a crucial time of the year.
It means the women&rsquo;s hammer in Eugene will be up for grabs and a new name will emerge as a global champion.
Although Price won't be competing, it appears as though the world title could still remain in US possession as the host nation fields the top two throwers in the world this year: Brooke Andersen and Janee&rsquo; Kassanavoid.
&ldquo;Our goal for the season was to make the World Championships team and win a medal,&rdquo; said Olympic finalist Andersen after becoming the US champion with 77.96m. &ldquo;So, I&rsquo;m closer to that goal.&rdquo;
Anderson has won five of her six competitions this year, topped by her world-leading throw of 79.02m &ndash; a mark which elevated her to fourth on the world all-time list. She has thrown beyond 77 metres in all but one competition and will be keen to do better than her 10th-place finish from the Tokyo Olympics.
Kassanavoid has been on Andersen&rsquo;s heels during the 2022 season and is the only woman to beat the world leader this year, producing a PB of 78.00m in Tucson in May. She went on to finish second at the US Championships with 76.04m.
&ldquo;I struggled with some technical cues and some tension feeling the hammer,&rdquo; Kassanavoid said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m in a good place of strength and I was able to get it together for one throw.&rdquo;
Canada&rsquo;s Camryn Rogers strengthens the North American challenge. She has fond recent memories of competing at Hayward Field, having won the NCAA title there last month with a collegiate and national record of 77.67m.
&ldquo;I just focus on finding my rhythm, finding the power for that one throw,&rdquo; Rogers said after breaking the record. &ldquo;To get it out there when it counted, it means the absolute most.&rdquo;
Despite Wlodarczyk's absence, Poland will still be well represented by Malwina Kopron, who earned silver at last year&rsquo;s Olympics and at the 2017 World Championships and holds a season&rsquo;s best of 75.08m.
Italy&rsquo;s Sara Fantini just squeaked through to the Olympic final last year, but she has been regularly throwing well beyond 70 metres this year, topped by a national record of 75.77m, which suggests she&rsquo;ll be a contender in Eugene.
China has a strong record in the women&rsquo;s hammer at global championships and their challenge will be led by Luo Na, who has a best this year of 74.47m.
Krista Tervo and Katrine Koch Jacobsen, the national record-holders for Finland and Denmark respectively, have shown great improvement over the past 12 months and are also ones to watch.
Aaron Heisen for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's hammer

WCH Oregon22 preview: hammer

The men&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympic hammer medallists will renew their rivalry at the Kip Keino Classic &ndash; a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event &ndash; in Nairobi on 7 May.
Poland&rsquo;s Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki, Norway&rsquo;s silver medallist Eivind Henriksen and Poland&rsquo;s bronze medallist Pawel Fajdek will all be in action, with four-time world champion Fajdek on the hunt for back to back wins in Kenya&rsquo;s capital city.
Fajdek bought his 2021 season to a close in Nairobi, throwing 79.19m to beat Nowicki with 77.99m. This time they will be joined by Henriksen, who started his season with a fourth-place finish and 75.05m throw at the European Throwing Cup in Leiria. 
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 Nowicki had the competition of his life to win in Tokyo, the 33-year-old improving to 82.52m to break his bronze medal streak after finishing third at his previous four successive global championships. Henriksen set a Norwegian record by throwing 81.58m for silver, while Fajdek threw 81.53m for bronze.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dream for the two of us to be on the podium together,&rdquo; Nowicki said later, on becoming an Olympic medallist alongside his compatriot Fajdek. Now the two will be battling for the top spot in Nairobi.
Since 2008, the pair have clashed in a total of 107 finals, with Fajdek leading the head-to-head, 86-21.
The Kip Keino Classic is the third Gold level meeting in this year&rsquo;s World Athletics Continental Tour, which kicks off at the USATF Bermuda Games on Saturday (9) and then moves on to the Golden Games at Mt. SAC on 16 April.

Wojciech Nowicki, Eivind Henriksen and Pawel Fajdek will renew their rivalry at the Kip Keino Classic.

Olympic medallists in Nairobi hammer head-to-head

A look back at the key moments of 2021 in the throws events

2021 review: throws

As the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 continues, we shine a spotlight on the five women and five men who have been nominated for this year&rsquo;s Rising Star awards. The winners will be selected by an international panel of experts and be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December. 
<h2>Silja Kosonen</h2>
Despite a sporting background that includes football, swimming, skiing and orienteering, it is within athletics that Silja Kosonen has navigated her way to the very top.
From world and European U20 titles to global age-group and national senior records, it has been a standout year for the 18-year-old Finnish thrower, who started the season with a hammer best of 71.34m to her name.&nbsp;
That wasn&rsquo;t to remain her PB for long. Making her season debut in the snow at the Finnish Winter Throwing Championships in Kaustinen in early March, Kosonen improved to 72.44m &ndash; a senior national record that also broke the long-standing European U20 record set by the late 2000 Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska.&nbsp;
A few months later, she graduated from being the best ever in Europe to the best in the world, throwing 73.43m in Vaasa in June to break the 16-year-old world U20 hammer record held by China&rsquo;s Zhang Wenxiu. With that performance the teenager secured her second successive Finnish Championships gold, and she went on to claim the European U20 title in Tallinn.
But in a busy year, Kosonen still had plenty to aim for. Making her Olympic debut in Tokyo two weeks later, she threw 70.49m to finish 14th in qualifying, a mark which saw her place in the top half of the field.
By the time she lined up at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kosonen had thrown beyond 70 metres in six competitions throughout the season and she added another to that tally to gain her first global gold in Kenya. 
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 Starting her series with 70.53m, she improved to a championship record of 71.64m in the second round and recorded 68.41m in the third, before fouling the fourth, throwing 65.28m in the fifth and then 70.63m in the sixth.
She later explained how her win meant &ldquo;everything&rdquo;.
&ldquo;It shows that I can get good results, even under a lot of pressure,&rdquo; said Kosonen, who led a repeat of the European podium also featuring French thrower Rose Loga and Maryola Bukel of Belarus. &ldquo;I can say that I am a world champion. It means so much.
&ldquo;It has just been the perfect season. I&rsquo;m going to remember this day forever. Out of my five well taken throws, three of them were above 70 metres, and that shows me that I am on the right track in my career.&rdquo;
Well and truly on track, if this year&rsquo;s performances are anything to go by. 
<h2>Erriyon Knighton</h2>
Still aged just 17, Erriyon Knighton is already the fastest U20 200m runner of all time and he will remain eligible for the age group throughout all of 2022 and 2023.
The world U20 record he broke this year? It belonged to a certain Usain Bolt, as did the world U18 best Knighton also improved. During a superb season of sprinting, the US athlete took his PB in the half lap event from 20.33 to 19.84 and became an Olympic finalist, finishing just 0.19 shy of a medal in fourth.
A huge achievement, but he had wanted even more. &ldquo;I just never want to feel this feeling ever again,&rdquo; he said later. &ldquo;So, I just have to come back again.
&ldquo;The goal from the start was to make the podium. I&rsquo;m just taking it all in, that&rsquo;s all you can do.&rdquo;&nbsp;
He certainly seemed to take the season in his speedy long stride. Hailing from Tampa in Florida, Knighton had turned professional at the start of the year and opened his outdoor season with a 200m PB of 20.31 before running a wind-assisted 9.99 for 100m. He took 0.01 off his 200m best at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC but then really stormed into the spotlight in Jacksonville at the end of May. Winning against some top competition, he ran 20.11 to take 0.02 from the world U18 best set by Bolt in 2003.
Then it was time for the US Olympic Trials. First the teenager cruised to another world U18 best of 20.04 to win his heat and he later explained how he believed a time of 19.8 or 19.7 would be needed to make the US Olympic team.
He was up for the challenge.
He won his semifinal in 19.88, breaking the world U20 record of 19.93 set by Bolt in 2004, and went even quicker in the final, his time of 19.84 placing him third, to secure his spot on the team for Tokyo. 
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 Once there, at what was only his second ever competition outside of the USA, he won his heat and semifinal in respective times of 20.55 and 20.02 before running 19.93 in the final to finish behind only Canada&rsquo;s Andre De Grasse and his US teammates Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be dangerous in the future,&rdquo; silver medallist Bednarek said when asked about Knighton after the race. &ldquo;Seventeen years old and being able to run this fast. He&rsquo;s raw, got a lot of talent and a lot of things to work on. He&rsquo;s definitely going to be a monster in the future.&rdquo;

We focus on the five women and five men who have been nominated for this year’s Rising Star awards.