WELCOME TO the Paweł Fajdek clinic on how to win a WC hammer gold:
•First, throw a winning distance—260-4 (79.34)—on your first throw.
•Second, throw a winning distance—263-0 (80.16)—on your second one.
•Third, throw a winning distance—260-4 (79.37)—on your third throw.
•Fourth, throw a winning distance—264-1 (80.50)—on your fourth.
He was relentless. He took the final and made it his own. He asserted his dominance with his initial attempt and never let go. No fouls to the left this time, as in London Worlds. No pressure of fouls to start the competition, as in his London and Rio Olympic debacles, where he failed to make the final. This one was his. Only two closing fouls kept this from being a possibly perfect performance. His fourth consecutive title will have to do. “Now, taking the fourth world title—it is very emotional for me and I feel very proud tonight,” said the 30-year-old Pole, who struggled to overcome injuries this year. Next for him is “hard work in the following 2 years until Eugene.”
The least of Fajdek’s leads came at the end of the first round. He stood at 260-4 (79.34) with Hungary’s Bence Halász 2nd at 256-6 (78.18). In the end, Fajdek stood more than 2m clear of the field.
France’s Quentin Bigot won silver and said, “This is the result of hard and dedicated work and passion, and also of the support of the people around me, my coach, my family, my fiancée, my company, my sponsors. They all have centimeters in this result.” Apparently, as Bigot’s fourth-round 256-6 (78.19) pipped Halász for silver by just one of them.
“I am very glad that I confirmed that Hungary is a hammer throw country,” said the 22-year-old Halász. “It is the beginning of my career so I am very proud of it.” Oddly, yearly list leader Wojciech Nowicki was also awarded a bronze after finishing 4th. Poland’s claim that Halász’s first-round throw should have been ruled a foot foul was upheld by the Jury. But the Hungarian’s place was nonetheless allowed to stand because it was ruled that his approach to the rest of the competition was colored by the initial acceptance of his mark. Without it he would have been last.
Youth was served as 18-year-old Ukrainian prodigy Myhaylo Kokhan finished 5th in a PR 253-11 (77.39), moving to No. 4 on the all-time world list. Leading American Rudy Winkler had a notable PR of 252-10 (77.06) in qualifying then finished 11th with a best of 246-9 (75.20).
Winner of the quotable-quote competition was Bigot, who said, “When you get your first medal, you want to get more of it, like a vampire wants more and more blood,” all the while insisting that “I am a calm guy.”
WC MEN’S HAMMER RESULTS
FINAL
(October 02) (temperature 79F/26C; humidity 59%)
1. Paweł Fajdek (Pol) 264-1 (80.50)
(260-4, 263-0, 260-4, 264-1, f, f) (79.34, 80.16, 79.37, 80.50, f, f);
2. Quentin Bigot (Fra) 256-6 (78.19)
(250-5, 256-1, 255-6, 256-6, f, 245-7) (76.34, 78.06, 77.89, 78.19, f, 74.87);
3. Bence Halász (Hun) 256-6 (78.18)*
(256-6, f, f, f, 242-0, f) (78.18, f, f, f, 73.76, f);
(* = subsequent video showed throw was a foul, so bronze awarded to 4th-placer Nowicki as well)
4. Wojciech Nowicki (Pol) 254-10 (77.69)
(250-2, 251-0, f, 254-0, f, 254-10) (76.25, 76.50, f, 77.42, f, 77.69);
5. Myhaylo Kokhan (Ukr) 253-11 (77.39) PR (WJL) (4, 10 WJ)
(244-6, 238-1, 248-9, 250-0, 253-11, 251-0) (74.52, 72.58, 75.83, 76.21, 77.39, 76.50);
6. Eivind Henriksen (Nor) 253-10 (77.38)
(249-5, f, 253-10, f, 247-3, 252-10) (76.03, f, 77.38, f, 75.36, 77.07);
7. Javier Cienfuegos (Spa) 251-2 (76.57) (240-4, 245-2, 249-4, 251-2, 249-4, 244-10) (73.25, 74.73, 76.00, 76.57, 76.01, 74.64);
8. Hleb Dudarau (Blr) 249-4 (76.00)
(247-6, 243-11, 249-4, 243-9, 244-3, 247-2) (75.45, 74.36, 76.00, 74.30, 74.46, 75.34);
9. Ashraf Amjad Al-Saifi (Qat) 247-5 (75.41)
(247-0, 247-5, 246-4) (75.28, 75.41, 75.09);
10. Nick Miller (GB) 247-1 (75.31)
(247-1, f, f) (75.31, f, f);
11. Rudy Winkler (US) 246-9 (75.20) (244-2, 246-9, 241-0) (74.42, 75.20, 73.47);
12. Yevgeniy Korotovskiy (Rus) 246-6 (75.14)
(f, 244-10, 246-6) (f, 74.64, 75.14).
QUALIFYING
(October 01; auto-qualifier 251-0/76.50)
Qualifiers: Fajdek 260-0 (79.24), Nowicki 255-6 (77.89), Bigot 254-1 (77.44), Winkler 252-10 (77.06) PR, Cienfuegos 252-3 (76.90), Halász 252-3 (76.90), Kokhan (Ukr) 251-2 (76.56), Henriksen 250-10 (76.46), Korotovskiy 250-6 (76.36), Miller 250-6 (76.36), Dudarau 250-3 (76.28) Al-Saifi 250-1 (76.22).
Non-qualifiers: Mihaíl Anastasákis (Gre) 246-3 (75.07), Conor McCullough (US) 245-8 (74.88), Zakhar Makhrosenka (Blr) 245-5 (74.80), Serghei Marghiev (Mol) 243-8 (74.28), Gabriel Enrique Kehr (Chl) 242-9 (73.99), Marcel Lomnický (Svk) 241-2 (73.51), Denis Lukyanov (Rus) 241-0 (73.47), Özkan Baltacı (Tur) 240-1 (73.19), Diego Del Real (Mex) 240-0 (73.15), Krisztián Pars (Hun) 239-8 (73.05), Hrístos Frantzeskákis (Gre) 239-4 (72.96), Daniel Haugh (US) 239-0 (72.85), Humberto Mansilla (Chl) 238-5 (72.68), Roberto Sawyers (CRC) 237-6 (72.41), Serhiy Perevoznikov (Ukr) 236-9 (72.16), Alberto González (Spa) 235-2 (71.69), Serhiy Reheda (Ukr) 233-10 (71.28), Mostafa Hicham Al-Gamal (Egy) 231-1 (70.45), Joaquín Gómez (Arg) 230-2 (70.17). ◻︎
