Koji Murofushi competing in Osaka (© Courtesy of Osaka GP)
On Sunday 7 September, just a week after the end of the Paris 2003 Saint-Denis World Championships, the best Hammer throwers in the world will reconvene to contest the World Athletics Final in Szombathely, Hungary, the modern temple to this discipline.
Due to the technical configuration of the stadium in Monaco, it is not possible to hold the men’s and women’s Hammer throws with the main programme of World Athletics Final events which take over two-days in the Mediterranean Principality on the following weekend (13-14 September) – though highlights of the Hammer contest will be shown in the stadium.
Szombathely, also home to the IAAF Accredited Training Centre which specialises in the Hammer Throw, a discipline which is Hungary’s athletics parade event, has as it’s General Director Tibor Gecsek, the 1998 European champion, and was the logical alternative for this spectacular throwing event, once Monaco was chosen as the main home of the World Athletics Final.
Athletes who are in the top seven positions in the Hammer Event as decided by the IAAF World Rankings on the 25 August (men) and 28 August (women) will automatically qualify for the World Athletics Final in Szombathely.
Koji Murofushi of Japan, who was the winner of the 2002 Grand Prix Final is the current leader of the men’s Event Ranking, and local interest should be strong as three Hungarians presently have positions in the top ten, with European champion Adrian Annus currently second (11 August).
The women’s Event Ranking as of 11 August is led by France’s Manuela Montebrun but she only has a narrow three point lead over the fast improving Yipsi Moreno, the reigning World champion from Cuba.
The weekend of the Hammer Throw Final has been turned into a veritable ‘Hammer fest’ in Szombathely, with an international seminar organized for 5-7 September included in the programme.
With more than 40 applications already received for the event including that of Harold Connolly (USA) the 1956 Olympic champion, and with key note speeches to be delivered by Yuriy Sedykh (RUS) the current World record holder (86.74m, 1986), 1972 Olympic Champion and former World record holder Anatoliy Bondarchuk (UKR - competed under URS), Gecsek, and centre coach Pal Nemeth (HUN), Szombathely will welcome the finest exponents of this throwing art.
