Astrid Kumbernuss (Germany) led the competition from beginning to end. She took the lead in the first round with a throw of 20.71. However, the competition was not easy for Kumbernuss. The 1997 World Indoor Champion, Vita Pavlysh (Ukraine) got very close. In the 2nd round Pavlysh threw 20.57, just 2cm less than the German. Kumbernuss bettered her own result in the same round, improving to 20.71.
In the next rounds they both had many throws over 20m, but not better than the early ones. In the sixth round Pavlysh threw 20.66, just 7cm less than her personal best. That was still enough for Kumbernuss, who won the competition, completing it with a 20.70 sixth round effort, only 1cm below her best of today.
There were three athletes fighting for the bronze medal. Stephanie Storp (Germany) started the competition with a throw of 19.22 and that was enough for the 3rd position. Huang Zhihong (China) was getting closer with each of her throws, but was left with 4th place with her 4th round throw of 19.15. Connie Price-Smith (USA) was 5th, throwing 19.00 in the first round.
