Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania wins the Discus Throw in Rome (© Getty Images)
Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania is the firm favourite for the World Championships. Alekna has been in top form through the summer season, and his earlier achievements and also his experience make him a likely winner in Helsinki.
This season, Alekna has the three longest throws in the world to his name. In Madrid he threw 70.67m, at Rethymno 70.58m and at Lausanne 70.53m. In addition to this series, he has thrown well over 67m in eight other competitions.
Alekna is the defendind World champion from Paris in 2003. In Athens last year he was declared Olympic gold medallist after the disqualification for a doping offence of Hungary’s Robert Fazekas.
Only Alekna and Estonian Gerd Kanter have managed to throw over 70 metres this year. Kanter threw his PB and his national record 70.10m in April in the United States. The Estonian has been in good form as well and he has repeatedly thrown around the 67m mark. But he has not been able to beat Alekna this summer and in fact Kanter has only once ever defeated Alekna during their 27 competitions against each other. In 2004 in Salon-de-Provence he managed a win with a very thin margin of 63.81m to 63.66m.
Another Estonian thrower who is likely to be a medal contender is Aleksander Tammert. In Athens Tammert could celebrate his bronze medal at the Olympics while Kanter did not qualify for the Olympic final or the 2003 World Championship final the previous year. Tammert got very close to 68 metres in Texas in April, but he has not regained that form later in the summer. Even though his latest competitions have been short of the 65 metre mark, with his experience Tammert should not be struck off the list of possible medallists.
No one has the experience to match that of Lars Riedel. The German has had a long and successful career, including five World Championship titles and the Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Riedel announced his retirement last year, but he changed his mind later. If Riedel could win his sixth World Championship title, he would be the first athlete to join Sergey Bubka as six-time champion.
In late May, things were looking good for Riedel. He threw 65.82m in Wiesbaden, but later in the season his results have been modest.
A surprise medal candidate may come from Spain, a country that has never won a medal in the Discus in major championships. Mario Pestano of Spain took an important win at the European Cup Super League with 66.29m.
The United States championship winner this year is Ian Waltz. His best result is 66.95m. Another American who has performed well is Jarred Rome, whose best mark this season is 67.39m. Frantz Kruger of South Africa must also be counted among the challengers, his best throw this year has been 65.53m.
Canadian Jason Tunks, a finalist in the 2003 World Championships as well, has been consistent during the season throwing his season’s best of 66.59m in June. Later in July he won the Canadian Championships with a 65.89m throw.
One should also not forget Zoltán Kövágó of Hungary who took the Olympic silver medal in Athens 2004. His season’s best is 65.99m, but he has been able to throw over 65m in five out of six total competitions during the season and his one result below this limit, 64.01m wasn’t far off either.
Helsinki 2005 media team
