The Real Winter Throwing Championships

America just had their national championships last weekend and hammer throwers Amber Campbell and Jake Freeman both turned in impressive performances to win the weight throw competition. The NCAA Championships are coming up next weekend with Walter Henning as the men’s favorite and a close competition in store for the women. However, America is the only major country in the world that throws the weight. What do the rest of the world’s hammer throwers do during the winter? They throw the hammer.

It’s a simple concept, but it works. While the indoor season has been nearing its peak, many of the world’s best hammer throwers are already outside testing their form. Sergej Litvinov of Russia has already set a personal best of 79.76m and fellow countryman Aleksey Zagorniy topped 79.99m in February (with a foul of 82.80m). Down in South Africa, Kathrin Klaas upset fellow German Betty Heidler with a personal best of 75.30m. Nearly every European country has hosted winter throwing championships over the past few weeks and I’ll be competing at the European Winter Throwing Championships near the end of the month. The pre-season is in full swing.

Most of the readers of this site already know that I am not a fan of the weight throw. It just doesn’t make sense for hammer throwers to spend a good chuck of each year training for a completely different event. Being a good hammer thrower means that you need to throw the hammer a lot.

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