HMMR Podcast Episode 307: World champs review (with René Sack)
The world championships finished last weekend and there was plenty to talk about in the throwing events: surprise champions, new records, and a changing of the guard in some events. On this week’s podcast German national coach René Sack joins us to break down the action, discuss our favorite moments, and identify the trends we saw emerge in Budapest.
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A former elite thrower himself, Sack is currently the German national discus coach. In additional to overseeing the event nationwide and has personally coached athletes like Nadine Müller to World and European Championship medals.
Related resources
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- Some recent throws previews and reviews of major championships: Episode 305 previewing the 2023 World Championships with Don Babbitt. The 2022 world championship previews with Shaun Pickering on Episode 277. Tokyo Olympics review with him on Episode 255, and Episode 300 remembering Pickering’s legacy.
- We also put up some recent analysis of the first half and second half of the throwing events at this year’s world championships.
- For a look at country trends in throwing, we have posted about that over the years with some analysis post Tokyo Olympics, in 2017, 2016, and 2015.
- To learn more from Sack, listen to our interviews with him on Episode 79, Episode 136, and Episode 211. Vern and I also discussed his recent presentations on GAINcast 94. You can also find him on Twitter (@ReneSack) and Instagram (@renesack76). Sack has contributed articles to HMMR Media which you can find them here. He also presented Video Lesson 16, where he shares his framework for developing specific strength in the throwing events.
Key quotes and topics
- 0:00 – Introduction.
- 3:30 – Track and field as entertainment.
- 9:00 – Women’s shot put and general throws performance levels
- 10:45 – Officiating gone wrong: “If you have a close call as an official, it should go to the thrower.”
- 13:45 – Men’s hammer throw and Ethan Katzberg’s progression: “When I know when I’m in shape I don’t need anyone who messing up my mind. I’m just going there and throw far.”
- 23:00 – The decline of Poland and Germany, and the rise of the East and West.
- 34:30 – Making the discus fly and a Crouser discus comeback: “the way he’s throwing the shot it’s not easy to throw the discus because he got a slow rotation to the middle, then he gives the shot a hard hit. It will not work with the discus. You have to accelerate the discus a long, smooth way.”
- 47:30 – Final thoughts
Complete transcript
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