2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw

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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.

Contents

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 Robert Harting
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  (GER)
Silver Piotr Małachowski
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland  (POL)
Bronze Gerd Kanter
Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia  (EST)

Records

World record Flag of East Germany.svg  Jürgen Schult  (GDR)74.08 Neubrandenburg, East Germany 6 June 1986
Championship record Flag of Lithuania.svg  Virgilijus Alekna  (LTU)70.17 Helsinki, Finland7 August 2005
World leadingFlag of Estonia.svg  Gerd Kanter  (EST)71.64 Kohila Parish, Estonia 25 June 2009
African record Flag of South Africa.svg  Frantz Kruger  (RSA)70.32 Salon-de-Provence, France26 May 2002
Asian record Flag of Iran.svg  Ehsan Haddadi  (IRI)69.32 Tallinn, Estonia3 June 2008
North American recordFlag of the United States.svg  Ben Plucknett  (USA)71.32 Eugene, United States4 June 1983
South American record Flag of Argentina.svg  Jorge Balliengo  (ARG)66.32 Rosario, Argentina 15 April 2006
European record Flag of East Germany.svg  Jürgen Schult  (GDR)74.08Neubrandenburg, East Germany6 June 1986
Oceanian recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Benn Harradine  (AUS)66.37 Salinas, United States22 May 2008

Qualification standards

A standardB standard
64.50 m62.50 m

Schedule

DateTimeRound
August 18, 200910:05 Qualification
August 19, 200920:10 Final

Results

Qualification

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

RankGroupAthleteNationality#1#2#3ResultNotes
1A Robert Harting Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  (GER)66.8166.81Q
2A Gerd Kanter Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia  (EST)66.7366.73Q
3B Zoltán Kővágó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary  (HUN)x65.8265.82Q
4B Jarred Rome Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)60.9265.5165.51Q
5A Casey Malone Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)65.1365.13Q
6B Virgilijus Alekna Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania  (LTU)65.0465.04Q
7A Mario Pestano Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  (ESP)65.0365.03Q
8B Piotr Małachowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland  (POL)64.2064.4862.6564.48q
9A Bogdan Pishchalnikov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia  (RUS)62.9361.0960.0862.93q
10A Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt  (EGY)62.8462.09x62.84q
11B Gerhard Mayer Flag of Austria.svg  Austria  (AUT)62.5359.3362.1962.53q
12B Frantz Kruger Flag of Finland.svg  Finland  (FIN)62.29x60.4562.29q
13A Aleksander Tammert Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia  (EST)62.2461.9359.4462.24
14A Ian Waltz Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)x60.2762.0462.04
15A Benn Harradine Flag of Australia.svg  Australia  (AUS)60.7361.7460.7961.74
16B Frank Casañas Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  (ESP)xx61.1061.10
17A Gaute Myklebust Flag of Norway.svg  Norway  (NOR)x60.80x60.80
18A Bertrand Vili Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)60.68xx60.68
19B Erik Cadee Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)x60.64x60.64
20B Markus Münch Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  (GER)60.55x59.1260.55
21B Ivan Hryshyn Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine  (UKR)59.9357.28x59.93
22B Märt Israel Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia  (EST)59.58x-59.58
23A Jorge Balliengo Flag of Argentina (1861-2010).svg  Argentina  (ARG)56.6955.3259.1959.19
24B Ahmed Mohamed Dheeb Flag of Qatar.svg  Qatar  (QAT)55.3359.16x59.16
25B Nikolay Sedyuk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia  (RUS)x59.0358.6259.03
26A Oleksiy Semenov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine  (UKR)58.7857.31x58.78
27A Daniel Schärer Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland  (SUI)58.5058.2357.2258.50
28B Germán Lauro Flag of Argentina (1861-2010).svg  Argentina  (ARG)57.88xx57.88
29B Ercüment Olgundeniz Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey  (TUR)56.54x57.5257.52
A Haidar Nasir Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq  (IRQ)xxxNM

Final

RankAthleteNationality#1#2#3#4#5#6ResultNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Robert Harting Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  (GER)68.2567.0467.80x67.8069.4369.43PB
Silver medal icon.svg Piotr Małachowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland  (POL)68.7768.0567.00x69.1567.3369.15 NR
Bronze medal icon.svg Gerd Kanter Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia  (EST)65.9165.65x66.8866.2465.4566.88
4 Virgilijus Alekna Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania  (LTU)66.3666.3265.6864.5366.24x66.36
5 Casey Malone Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)63.6161.5965.6464.8465.9866.0666.06
6 Zoltán Kővágó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary  (HUN)x63.0962.47x65.1761.6965.17
7 Bogdan Pishchalnikov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia  (RUS)62.0363.2963.1864.2665.02x65.02
8 Gerhard Mayer Flag of Austria.svg  Austria  (AUT)62.1660.4963.17x60.83x63.17
9 Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt  (EGY)62.1362.8362.7662.83
10 Mario Pestano Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  (ESP)62.76x62.2762.76
11 Jarred Rome Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)58.4862.47x62.47
12 Frantz Kruger Flag of Finland.svg  Finland  (FIN)x59.77x59.77

Key: PB = Personal best, NR = National record

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References

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.