Dilshod Nazarov, winner of the hammer in Karlstad (© DECA Text & Bild)
Asian champion Dilshod Nazarov notched up his second successive IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge victory of the season, taking a last-gasp win at the Karlstad Grand Prix on Wednesday (22).
Four days after winning in Zhukovskiy, the 33-year-old from Tajikistan was under pressure throughout after European under-23 champion Nick Miller threw 77.55m in the opening round to add one centimetre to the British record set more than 31 years ago.
Nazarov moved from third to second in round two with 76.83m and marginally improved to 76.89m in the penultimate round, but 22-year-old Miller still held the lead.
Then, with his final throw of the competition, Nazarov sent his hammer flying out to 77.95m, 40 centimetres beyond Miller’s leading mark. The Briton tried to respond, but his final effort was a foul.
Italian veteran Marco Lingua was third with 76.76m, 28 centimetres ahead of Marcel Lomnicky of the Slovak Republic.
With his win in Karlstad – his third victory in the past four years in the Swedish city – Nazarov has consolidated his second-place position in the overall challenge standings, nine points adrift of world champion Pawel Fajdek and one point ahead of Olympic champion Krisztian Pars.
Most of the other top performances in Karlstad came in the field events.
Czech champion Jakub Vadlejch added more than a metre to his PB in the javelin, winning with 86.21m. Sweden’s Kim Amb, competing for the first time since May, finished second with a season’s best of 82.04m.
On a good night for Swedish jumpers, Erika Kinsey came close to clearing a lifetime best of 1.98m in the high jump but had to settle for a 1.94m victory. Compatriot Erica Jarder was similarly convincing in winning the long jump, leaping a wind-assisted 6.66m in the first round, while European indoor bronze medallist Andreas Otterling won the men’s event with a wind-assisted 8.13m.
On the track, South African record-holder Akani Simbine comfortably achieved a sprints double, winning the 100m in 10.09 and the 200m in 20.64, both times with illegal tailwinds. USA’s Alexandria Anderson won the women’s 100m in 11.28.
In a close 800m race, USA’s Duane Solomon just about managed to hold off world junior bronze medallist Andreas Almgren, winning in 1:45.99 to the young Swede’s 1:46.04.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
