2013 Season Wrap up

Hello hammer fans,

 

I know it has been a while since I wrote my last blog post and posted it on my website, but things were quite busy. Yes, there is always some free time that could be spent by writing a post, but let’s just say I like to be lazy…. “sometimes”.

I would like to start this post with some statistical data so I can really say that I have had the best season so far. During my 2013 hammer season I competed at fifteen competitions, the results ranged from 74,98m up to my new PR 78,73m, with the average of 76,997m. All the results can be found by clicking on this link.

Yes, I am very satisfied with this season. I accomplished almost all the goals I set up for myself at the beginning of the year. Firstly, I successfully defended Slovak national title at the end of June in Trnava, Slovakia (the hometown of Libor Charfreitag). Secondly, I qualified for both University Games held in Kazan, Russia and World Championships held in Moscow, Russia. Both of them were equally important to me since I knew that my competitors will be strong and only a good throw could produce a good final result. The University Games came first, 8th of July (two days after my birthday), and I was lucky to throw a new personal best of 78,73m and win silver medal behind pole Pawel Fajdek (79,99m). The video of my throw is below:

The World Championships came later, 12th of August, and I personally had two goals coming to this meet. The first one was to qualify to the finals and I managed to do so by throwing 76,97m (just three cm shy of an automatic qualifying mark of 77m). The second goal was to throw six times in the final and I happened to do just that. However, it was the toughest competition I have ever been to. I started on a decent note and threw 76,62m. Then I put everything into my second throw but unfortunately, it landed one meter out of sector (~78,50m). The third throw was the toughest I have ever taken. I found myself sitting at 9th position behind pole Szymon Ziolkowski who threw 76,84m and therefore, I had to surpass him if I wanted three more throws. Luckily, I threw 77,57m and this happened to be my farthest throw of the day. I jumped into 8th position at the moment and earned another three throws. The fourth one was not so good because I had to throw immediately after my third one and it ended with a foul. My fifth and sixth (76,46m and 76,48m) were good throws but they already lacked some energy. Overall, I finished 8th in the World and enjoyed every single moment of this competition!

 

I also had the chance to compete at couple of IAAF Hammer Challenge meets. Currently, with only one more challenge to go, I am standing 6th with the score of 233,63m (78,15m+77,91m+77,57m). The complete standings can be found by clicking on this link. I am very satisfied with the steadiness of my form during the season.

 

I have experienced an awesome exhibition – hammer throwing over the river in Karlstad, Sweden! This meet was called “Skanska Open 2013” and was the most fun I have had with hammer in a while. They would bring us to the meet by a little speeding boat. The crowd was awesome as well. They would cheer us on with applause before every throw. Of course, the crowd got excited when someone threw all the way to the other side of the river, and I am happy it was me, who did it. I won this exhibition with a throw of 78,69m – new meet record. The pictures of the crowd, hammer circle, the cage set up, speeding boat and more can by found by clicking on this link.

Lastly, the only thing missing in my 2013 season was an 80m throw. And maybe a medal at World Championships… but there is always next season and both of these goals need some time. Like I said before: This is only the beginning!!!