PREVIEW - Men's Hammer Throw

In some events, World Records are broken every now then. Not so in men’s Hammer Throw: Yuriy Sedykh’s WR 86.74 has remained unequalled for almost 19 years now – so long so that it has seemed almost unbreakable.

So it was a major surprise when Ivan Tikhon of Belarus threw 86.73m in Brest in his home country, just one centimetre short of the Soviet hammer legend’s record.

Tikhon’s superb result was by no means a surprise. He is the defending World champion from Paris 2003 and the Olympic silver medallist from Athens last year. The 29-year-old is known as an excellent competitor. And his throw at Brest was no fluke: earlier in the season he threw 83.64m and his series in the Brest competition included no less than five throws over 83.5m.

His most likely challenger is his countryman Vadim Devyatovskiy. So far, he has no major titles to his name, but Devyatovkskiy has had a very good season. His answer to Tikhon’s amazing throw at Brest was 83.69m. Later in July at Minsk he threw 84.90m.

The duo from Belarus are a couple of metres ahead of the rest of the world this year. Turkey’s Esref Apak, the Olympic bronze medallist from 2004, has thrown 81.45m and he is leading a group of throwers hoping to rise to challenge Tikhon and Devyatovskiy.

This year the men’s discipline is not one of the Grand Prix events. Therefore, the world’s elite have only rarely competed against each other. So the Hammer Throw at the World Championships may provide some real surprises.

One thrower whose form remains a mystery is Koji Murofushi of Japan. The Olympic gold medal winner has competed only once, in his home country in June. Murofushi’s best throw was a modest 76.47m, enough to win the national championships. In Helsinki, he is widely expected to perform much better.

1 Aug UPDATE - Murofushi has withdrawn from the championships

Last year, Olli-Pekka Karjalainen of Finland had a marvellous season – if you don’t count the Olympics. He threw his personal best and national record of 83.30m, but he failed to qualify for the Olympic final. This year Karjalainen has kept a low profile. His win at the Helsinki Grand Prix in July with 78.90m was a sign to the other throwers that the Finn is ready for the World Championships in front of a home crowd. Just before the Helsinki Championships, Karjalainen warmed-up with a season’s best of 79.59m at Lapua to suggest that this time his form is going up before a major championship.

Of the experienced European throwers, Ukrainian Andriy Skvaruk will be competing at 38 years of age. Libor Charfreitag of Slovakia, Ilya Konovalov of Russia and the German trio of Markus Esser, Karsten Kobs and Holger Klose are all elite throwers.

The experienced guard should be prepared for surprises. South African Chris Harmse has thrown a new African record of 80.63m, and Croatian Andras Haklits has thrown 80.41m. Krisztian Pars of Hungary must never be forgotten, even though he has not thrown over 80m this year.

Helsinki 2005 media team