2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw

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

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Gold Robert Harting
  Germany (GER)
Silver Piotr Małachowski
  Poland (POL)
Bronze Gerd Kanter
  Estonia (EST)

Records

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World record   Jürgen Schult (GDR) 74.08 Neubrandenburg, East Germany 6 June 1986
Championship record   Virgilijus Alekna (LTU) 70.17 Helsinki, Finland 7 August 2005
World leading   Gerd Kanter (EST) 71.64 Kohila Parish, Estonia 25 June 2009
African record   Frantz Kruger (RSA) 70.32 Salon-de-Provence, France 26 May 2002
Asian record   Ehsan Haddadi (IRI) 69.32 Tallinn, Estonia 3 June 2008
North American record   Ben Plucknett (USA) 71.32 Eugene, United States 4 June 1983
South American record   Jorge Balliengo (ARG) 66.32 Rosario, Argentina 15 April 2006
European record   Jürgen Schult (GDR) 74.08 Neubrandenburg, East Germany 6 June 1986
Oceanian record   Benn Harradine (AUS) 66.37 Salinas, United States 22 May 2008

Qualification standards

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A standard B standard
64.50 m 62.50 m

Schedule

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Date Time Round
August 18, 2009 10:05 Qualification
August 19, 2009 20:10 Final

Results

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Qualification

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

Rank Group Athlete Nationality #1 #2 #3 Result Notes
1 A Robert Harting   Germany (GER) 66.81 66.81 Q
2 A Gerd Kanter   Estonia (EST) 66.73 66.73 Q
3 B Zoltán Kővágó   Hungary (HUN) x 65.82 65.82 Q
4 B Jarred Rome   United States (USA) 60.92 65.51 65.51 Q
5 A Casey Malone   United States (USA) 65.13 65.13 Q
6 B Virgilijus Alekna   Lithuania (LTU) 65.04 65.04 Q
7 A Mario Pestano   Spain (ESP) 65.03 65.03 Q
8 B Piotr Małachowski   Poland (POL) 64.20 64.48 62.65 64.48 q
9 A Bogdan Pishchalnikov   Russia (RUS) 62.93 61.09 60.08 62.93 q
10 A Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly   Egypt (EGY) 62.84 62.09 x 62.84 q
11 B Gerhard Mayer   Austria (AUT) 62.53 59.33 62.19 62.53 q
12 B Frantz Kruger   Finland (FIN) 62.29 x 60.45 62.29 q
13 A Aleksander Tammert   Estonia (EST) 62.24 61.93 59.44 62.24
14 A Ian Waltz   United States (USA) x 60.27 62.04 62.04
15 A Benn Harradine   Australia (AUS) 60.73 61.74 60.79 61.74
16 B Frank Casañas   Spain (ESP) x x 61.10 61.10
17 A Gaute Myklebust   Norway (NOR) x 60.80 x 60.80
18 A Bertrand Vili   France (FRA) 60.68 x x 60.68
19 B Erik Cadee   Netherlands (NED) x 60.64 x 60.64
20 B Markus Münch   Germany (GER) 60.55 x 59.12 60.55
21 B Ivan Hryshyn   Ukraine (UKR) 59.93 57.28 x 59.93
22 B Märt Israel   Estonia (EST) 59.58 x - 59.58
23 A Jorge Balliengo   Argentina (ARG) 56.69 55.32 59.19 59.19
24 B Ahmed Mohamed Dheeb   Qatar (QAT) 55.33 59.16 x 59.16
25 B Nikolay Sedyuk   Russia (RUS) x 59.03 58.62 59.03
26 A Oleksiy Semenov   Ukraine (UKR) 58.78 57.31 x 58.78
27 A Daniel Schärer   Switzerland (SUI) 58.50 58.23 57.22 58.50
28 B Germán Lauro   Argentina (ARG) 57.88 x x 57.88
29 B Ercüment Olgundeniz   Turkey (TUR) 56.54 x 57.52 57.52
A Haidar Nasir   Iraq (IRQ) x x x NM

Final

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Rank Athlete Nationality #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Result Notes
  Robert Harting   Germany (GER) 68.25 67.04 67.80 x 67.80 69.43 69.43 PB
  Piotr Małachowski   Poland (POL) 68.77 68.05 67.00 x 69.15 67.33 69.15 NR
  Gerd Kanter   Estonia (EST) 65.91 65.65 x 66.88 66.24 65.45 66.88
4 Virgilijus Alekna   Lithuania (LTU) 66.36 66.32 65.68 64.53 66.24 x 66.36
5 Casey Malone   United States (USA) 63.61 61.59 65.64 64.84 65.98 66.06 66.06
6 Zoltán Kővágó   Hungary (HUN) x 63.09 62.47 x 65.17 61.69 65.17
7 Bogdan Pishchalnikov   Russia (RUS) 62.03 63.29 63.18 64.26 65.02 x 65.02
8 Gerhard Mayer   Austria (AUT) 62.16 60.49 63.17 x 60.83 x 63.17
9 Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly   Egypt (EGY) 62.13 62.83 62.76 62.83
10 Mario Pestano   Spain (ESP) 62.76 x 62.27 62.76
11 Jarred Rome   United States (USA) 58.48 62.47 x 62.47
12 Frantz Kruger   Finland (FIN) x 59.77 x 59.77

Key: PB = Personal best, NR = National record

References

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General
Specific
  1. ^ Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-09). Men's Discus Throw - PREVIEW Archived 2009-08-16 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-18.
  2. ^ Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-18). Event Report - Men's Discus Throw - Qualification Archived 2009-08-28 at the Wayback Machine. 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. ^ Hometown hero gets dramatic win, South African gold medalist faces gender test . Deutsche Welle (2009-08-20). Retrieved on 2009-08-22. Archived 2009-09-08.
  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.