Anita Wlodarczyk, the hammer goddess, photo by PhotoRun.net Wlodarczyk 80.79 WL
BIALYSTOK (POL, Jul 23): Anita Wlodarczyk won hammer during last day of Polish Championships with World leading 80.79 m, it is her 5th best ever and 6th competition in total over 80 meters. Malwina Kopron behind her improved to 75.11 and third Joanna Fiodorow 73.82. In men shot put Michal Haratyk won with 21.53 personal best clearly over Konrad Bukowiecki 20.21. Piotr Lisek improved is outdoor PB to 585 to win the pole vault ahead of Pawel Wojciechowski 570. Sylwester Bednarek cleared 230 in high jump and Karol Zalewski won the 200 m in 20.69 (+0.7). Damian Czykier topped 110 m hurdles in 13.44 (+0.2) and Anna Kielbasinska was the best in women 200 m 23.27 (-0.7). Adam Kszczot in his first race at 1500 m since 2010 clocked PB 3:38.31 and clearly beat national record holder Marcin Lewandowski 3:41.82. Sofia Ennaoui won tactical women 1500 m in 4:16.56.
RunBlogRun opines: One of the biggest lines of of bs in televised sports is the lack of coverage of the hammer throw. And the biggest line is the the lack of coverage of Anita Wlodarczyk. The night after the Doha DL, I was one of about thirty people, including three security guards, to watch Anita Wlodarczyk give a hammer demo in Doha, Quatar. To the IAAF’s credit, they put together an impressive field in the hammer, but, due to safety issues, put the hammer the night after the DL meeting.
Anita Wlodarczyck letting the hammer rip, Rio 2016, WR of 82.29m (she went 82.98m in August 2016), photo by PhotoRun.net Anita Wlodarczyk is one of the finest athletes, male or female in the world. Her domination of the hammer throw is an impressive as Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, or Elaine Thompson. The lack of understanding of the event is what hurts it, and the fouls scare the hell out of people. But mind you, put Tim Hutchings, Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson together, all three with different skills, to provide coverage of the discipline, give it some terrestrial TV and bring in a sponsor (Stanley Tools-suggested years ago by some real track fans), and the hammer could be cool. Hell, it should be cool. Anita Wlodardczyk is the hammer goddess. Watch her throw six times in a competition and you will be fixated on the hammer.