The decade in review: women’s hammer throw world rankings
Earlier this week we ranked the top male hammer throwers of the decade. Today we continue to look back at the 2010s by ranking the top female hammer throwers, including a look back at interesting trends and statistics.
Methods
To create our rankings we simply compiled the results of our annual hammer throw rankings for the last ten years and gave points for each placing. Each place was given points: first place was given 10 points, all the way down to one point for 10th place. Tiebreakers were given to the athlete that had reached the highest ranked best season. Remaining tiebreakers were give to the athlete who was first appeared in the rankings in the earliest year. Complete past rankings can be viewed here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.
For banned athletes that retroactively had results disqualified, we removed any points they had for relevant years. For example Tatyana Lysenko had he points for 2012 and 2013 taken away in the rankings below. All athletes affected were noted with an *.
Highlights from the 2010s
Women’s hammer throw in the 2010s was synonymous with one name: Anita Wlodarczyk. Betty Heidler entered the decade as world record holder, but Wlodarczyk set four records, became the first ever to break 80 meters (which she did 7 times), won two Olympic golds, three world titles, and on and on and on. To put her dominance in perspective, she had 24 of the top 25 performances of the entire decade at at one point had a winning streak lasting more than 3 years and 42 competitions. It is hard to imagine an athlete in any event as dominant as Wlodaczyk was.
On the darker side of things, the decade was also a decade of doping. As retests became more common 24% of the athletes in our ranking served doping bans. Most notably 2012 Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko and 2008 champion Oksana Menkova were both snagged by retests and had their medals stripped.
Key statistics and trends
| Number of throwers appearing on the rankings: | 34 |
| Number of countries represented: | 17 countries |
| Country with most athletes: | USA – 7 athletes ranked |
| Countries with the most points: | Poland (124), China (101), Germany (90), and USA (62) |
| Most top ranks: | Anita Wlodarczyk – ranked first 6 times |
| Most years ranked: | Anita Wlodarczyk – ranked all 10 years |
| Most global titles: | Anita Wlodarczyk – 5 titles (world champion 2013/2015/2017 and Olympic champion 2012/2016) |
| Most global medals: | Anita Wlodarczyk (6) |
| Banned athletes in the rankings: | 8 – Tatyana Lysenko, Oksana Menkova, Zalina Petrivskaya, Jessica Cosby Toruga, Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, Daryia Pchelnik, and Anna Bulgakova all served lengthy bans for doping during the last decade. Gwen Berry also tested positive for a stimulant and was suspended for 3 months in 2016. |
| Youngest athlete ranked: | Biance Ghelber (Perie) – ranked 9th in 2010 at age 20 |
| Oldest athlete ranked: | Amber Campbell – ranked 6th in 2016 at age 35 |
Complete decade rankings
| Rank | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anita Wlodarczyk (POL) | 87 |
| 2 | Betty Heidler (GER) | 59 |
| 3 | Wenxiu Zhang (CHN) | 53 |
| 4 | Zheng Wang (CHN) | 42 |
| 5 | Kathrin Klaas (GER) | 31 |
| 6 | Joanna Fiodorow (POL) | 25 |
| 7 | Yipsi Moreno (CUB) | 24 |
| 8 | DeAnna Price (USA) | 22 |
| 9 | Gwen Berry (USA) | 20 |
| 10 | Alexandra Tavernier (FRA) | 20 |
| 11 | Tatyana Lysenko (RUS) | 16* |
| 12 | Sophie Hitchon (GBR) | 15 |
| 13 | Malwina Kopron (POL) | 12 |
| 14 | Hanna Skydan (AZE) | 11 |
| 15 | Zalina Petrivskaya (MDA) | 10* |
| 16 | Sultana Frizell (CAN) | 9 |
| 17 | Martina Hrasnova (SVK) | 8 |
| 18 | Amber Campbell (USA) | 6 |
| 19 | Na Luo (CHN) | 6 |
| 20 | Jessica Cosby Toruga (USA) | 5 |
| 21 | Hanna Malyshik (BLR) | 5 |
| 22 | Amanda Bingson (USA) | 4 |
| 23 | Bianca Ghelber (ROM) | 4 |
| 24 | Jeneva McCall (USA) | 3 |
| 25 | Rosa Rodriguez (VEN) | 3 |
| 26 | Iryna Klymets (UKR) | 3 |
| 27 | Oksana Kondratyeva (RUS) | 2 |
| 28 | Brooke Andersen (USA) | 2 |
| 29 | Jenny Dahlgren (ARG) | 1 |
| 30 | Eva Orban (HUN) | 1 |
| DQ | Oksana Menkova (BLR) | -* |
| DQ | Gulfiya Khanafeyeva (RUS) | -* |
| DQ | Daryia Pchelnik (BLR) | -* |
| DQ | Anna Bulgakova (RUS) | -* |
* = points removed after positive test resulted in retroactively disqualified results.
