2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw explained

The Men's Discus Throw event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 18 and August 19.

As the only man to throw in excess of seventy metres that season, reigning world and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia was the event favourite. Veteran athlete Virgilijus Alekna, the last athlete to beat Kanter in competition, was a strong medal possibility. Olympic silver medallist Piotr Małachowski was another contender, as was German Robert Harting who won silver at the previous world championships. The season had been of a high standard, with a number of athletes throwing over 65 m, including Frank Casañas, Bogdan Pishchalnikov and Zoltán Kővágó.[1]

On the first day of competition, qualification went smoothly as many of the highest ranked athletes qualified for the final on their first throw, with seven of them passing the automatic qualification mark of 64.50 m. Casañas and Estonia's number two Aleksander Tammert were the only high-profile athletes to be eliminated. Home competitor Harting had the best throw of the day (66.81), and Kővágó and Kanter were the next best qualifiers.[2]

In the final, Małachowski and Harting started very well on their first throws, with the former taking the lead with a Polish record-breaking throw, while the latter recorded a season's best. The pre-event favourites Kanter and Alekna were unable to challenge the two, as the Estonian took the bronze with his fourth round throw of 66.88 m and the Lithuanian never bettered his first throw of the day (66.36 m) and finished up in fourth place. Consistently throwing better than the rest of the field, Harting and Małachowski battled for the top spot. The Pole improved his lead with 69.15 m in the fifth round, another national record, but Harting took the gold with his final throw of the competition, recording a personal best of 69.43 m.[3] [4]

The victory for the home athlete was marred by his controversial comments regarding an initiative by victims of doping in East Germany. Former East German athletes, who had suffered through the state-sponsored doping program in the 1980s, were distributing glasses outside the stadium to encourage people not to "turn a blind eye" to doping. Harting said that he wished his discus would bounce from the ground and hit wearers in the eyes, but he later retracted and apologise for his statement.[5] [6]

Medallists

Gold
Silver
Bronze

Records

World record74.08Neubrandenburg, East Germany6 June 1986
Championship record70.17Helsinki, Finland7 August 2005
World leading71.64Kohila Parish, Estonia25 June 2009
African record70.32Salon-de-Provence, France26 May 2002
Asian record69.32Tallinn, Estonia3 June 2008
North American record71.32Eugene, United States4 June 1983
South American record66.32Rosario, Argentina15 April 2006
European record74.08Neubrandenburg, East Germany6 June 1986
Oceanian record66.37Salinas, United States22 May 2008

Schedule

DateTimeRound
August 18, 2009 10:05 Qualification
August 19, 2009 20:10 Final

Results

Qualification

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 64.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Rank Group Athlete Nationality
  1. 1
  1. 2
  1. 3
Result Notes
A 66.81 66.81 Q
A 66.73 66.73 Q
B 65.82 65.82 Q
B 60.92 65.51 65.51 Q
A 65.13 65.13 Q
B 65.04 65.04 Q
A 65.03 65.03 Q
B 64.20 64.48 62.65 64.48 q
A 62.93 61.09 60.08 62.93 q
10 A 62.84 62.09 62.84 q
11 B 62.53 59.33 62.19 62.53 q
12 B 62.29 60.45 62.29 q
13 A 62.24 61.93 59.44 62.24
14 A 60.27 62.04 62.04
15 A 60.73 61.74 60.79 61.74
16 B 61.10 61.10
17 A 60.80 60.80
18 A 60.68 60.68
19 B 60.64 60.64
20 B 60.55 59.12 60.55
21 B 59.93 57.28 59.93
22 B 59.58 59.58
23 A 56.69 55.32 59.19 59.19
24 B 55.33 59.16 59.16
25 B 59.03 58.62 59.03
26 A 58.78 57.31 58.78
27 A 58.50 58.23 57.22 58.50
28 B 57.88 57.88
29 B 56.54 57.52 57.52
A

Final

Rank Athlete Nationality
  1. 1
  1. 2
  1. 3
  1. 4
  1. 5
  1. 6
Result Notes
68.25 67.04 67.80 67.80 69.43 69.43 PB
68.77 68.05 67.00 69.15 67.33 69.15 NR
65.91 65.65 66.88 66.24 65.45 66.88
66.36 66.32 65.68 64.53 66.24 66.36
63.61 61.59 65.64 64.84 65.98 66.06 66.06
63.09 62.47 65.17 61.69 65.17
62.03 63.29 63.18 64.26 65.02 65.02
62.16 60.49 63.17 60.83 63.17
62.13 62.83 62.76 62.83
1062.76 62.27 62.76
1158.48 62.47 62.47
12 59.77 59.77

Key: PB = Personal best, NR = National record

References

General
Specific

Notes and References

  1. Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-09). Men's Discus Throw - PREVIEW . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-18.
  2. Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-18). Event Report - Men's Discus Throw - Qualification . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-18.
  3. Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-19). Event Report - Men's Discus Throw - Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-22. Archived 2009-09-08.
  4. Irwin, Pirate (2009-08-20). Harting leaves it late in discus thriller. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved on 2009-08-22.
  5. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4583836,00.html Hometown hero gets dramatic win, South African gold medalist faces gender test
  6. Chadband, Ian (2009-08-20). World Athletics: Usain Bolt cruises to 200m final in 20.08sec. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2009-08-22.

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