Nike Pre Classic: Metal Mania! Cantwell, Majewski, Hoffa, Martin,Nelson Whiting, release, note by Larry Eder

Some may just find their zen moments considering the sound of one hand clapping. There are others (and perhaps, you are in this group), who find their zen moment watching fifteen guys break four minutes for the mile, or, in this case, watching the top ranked shot putters in the world, put a sixteen pound ball of metal seventy-plus feet! That, my friends, is Metal Mania! And, at the Nike Pre Classic, meet director Tom Jordan has announced a stellar shot field. Less than a month to go, sportsfans, until we go to the cathedral of track & field that is Hayward Field, and worship the gods of track & field for several hours, as they, run, jump and throw to, well, world leading performances!

ChrisChristian Cantwell, Nike Pre 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net

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MEDAL MANIA IN MEN’S
THROWS AT PRE CLASSIC

Eugene, Oregon–Gold
medalists headline the shot put and discus throw at the 36^th
annual
Prefontaine Classic on July 3^rd at Hayward Field.

Berlin
World Champion Christian Cantwell of
the USA and Beijing Olympic Champion
Gerd Kanter of Estonia head fields
that have won an
astonishing 20 Olympic and World
Championships medals among them.

Cantwell,
ranked No. 1 in the world last year by Track
& Field News magazine, will be pressed in the shot by reigning
Olympic
champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland, Reese
Hoffa, dominator at the Osaka World Championships, world-leader
Cory Martin, newly minted NCAA champion Ryan
Whiting , who just joined the 72-foot club, and crowd favorite
Adam Nelson ,
twice the Olympic silver medalist. In
all, the field includes the Nos. 1, 2, 3,
5, 6, 7, and 9 throwers from last year.

Backing
up Kanter in the discus are two-time Olympic gold medalist Virgilijus
Alekna from Lithuania,
America’s No. 1, Casey Malone; Athens
Olympic silver medalist Zoltan Kovago
of Hungary, and Beijing silver medalist Piotr
Malachowski of Poland. Throwers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 last year by T&FN
make this discus field the most
decorated in Pre Classic history.

The
NIKE Prefontaine Classic will be shown live on NBC and to an
international
audience in more than 100 countries. Tickets are still available from
1-800-WEBFOOT or www.goducks.com

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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