by Larry Eder
The battle in Eugene was pretty clear from the onset! Although three Americans had made the final, four-time World Champion Pawel Fajdek and Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki, great friends, and rivals, were going to duel at Hayward Field.
What made the hammer throws, for both men and women, unique at Hayward was the fact that all the fans could see the hammer throws, as a special cage was placed in the center of Hayward Field. The cage, developed by 1996 Olympic silver medalist Jud Logan, allowed for a quicker return of fouls and allowed meet management to showcase the hammer throw to all the meet fans!
So, the deal was this: Pawel Fajdek wanted his fifth straight World Champs in the hammer throw. Wojciech Nowicki wanted to thwart that attempt. Nowicki won gold in Tokyo 2020, putting Fajdek in silver. Fadjek has terrible luck in the past Olympics: no mark in London 2012, 17th in Rio 2016. Nowicki took bronze in Rio 2016 and three bronze medals in WC hammers in 2019, 2017, and 2015.
Pawel Fajdek had gold in the hammer throw in Doha 2019, London 2017, Beijing 2015 and Moscow 2013. He wanted his fifth gold medal.
Wojciech Nowicki went out hard, 77.40m for the lead, then Fajdek threw 74.71m. Nowicki threw 80.01m, Fajdek, 80.58m. In attempt 3, Nowicki threw 81.03m! And Fajdek threw 81.98m!
Pawel Fajdek retorted with the leader, and then Nowicki fouled, and Fajdek, 79.13m, followed by two fouls.
Nowicki hit 79.45m and 79.53m, but not enough to stop Fajdek from taking the fifth gold in a row!
Afterward, Pawel Fajdek told the media just how important it was for him to win the medal.
“This is the competition that matters the most to me this year. So, I am glad that the gold is in my hand for the fifth time. ” noted the happy Hammer Warrior, “Now, we have to get back to the next hard job towards the next championships.”
The next championships? Well, that is the 2022 European Athletics Championships! Pawel Fajdek wants to unseat the defending champion, Wojciech Nowicki, who took the gold in 2018 in Berlin? Can Pawel Fajdek, riding on the high of winning his fifth gold medal in a row in the hammer throw beat his good friend and competitor?
Well, you will just have to wait and see!
From July 24, 2022, until August 15, 2022, RunBlogRun, in association with European Athletics, will be highlighting the performances of European athletes from the Oregon 22 World Athletics Championships to build interest in the next big competition for many European athletes, the 2022 European Athletics Championships, to be held in Munich, Germany from August 15-21, 2022. For tickets and more info, please click here.
