Kansas Relays Downtown Shot Put: Armstrong!

From the Kansas Relays website:

The Kansas Relays took their show to downtown Lawrence Wednesday night to much success. An estimated crowd of at least 2,500 gathered around a man-made shot put area on the corner of Eighth and New Hampshire Streets and witnessed some of the best in the world perform in a fun, excitement-packed setting.

Armstrong's winning distance is quite good, just 6 centimeters off his own Canadian Record.

If 2,500 is an accurate number, it's among the 25 best-attended "track meets" in the USA this year.

Christian Cantwell had been announced as an entrant when the lineups were first made public, but apparently he's not recovered from shoulder surgery yet.

For more, such as that the event was popular and well-received despite Larry Rawson's announcing, check out this Kansas City Star article.

Results:
1. Dylan Armstrong (CAN), 70-07.25 (21.52m)
2. Reese Hoffa, 69-03.50 (21.12m)
3. Adam Nelson, 68-05.25 (20.85m)
4. Corey Martin, 67-11.75 (20.72m)
5. Ryan Whiting, 67-11.00 (20.70m)
6. Dorian Scott (JAM), 66-00.50 (20.12m)
7. Noah Bryant, 65-11.00 (20.09m)
8. Dan Taylor, 62-07.25 (19.08m)

Superfan Rankings Update: Men's Throws

The last few days I've updated the shortest running events.  Going over to the throwing events, let's see how the big guys measure up.

Shot Put
Rank Athlete NAT Pts
1 Christian Cantwell USA 343
2 Ryan Whiting USA 228
3 Dylan Armstrong CAN 221
4 Andrei Mikhnevich BLR 199
5 Ralf Bartels GER 166
6 Reese Hoffa USA 163
7 Tomasz Majewski POL 157
8 Cory Martin USA 145
9 Adam Nelson USA 101
10 Pavel Lyzhyn BLR 100
11 Russ Winger USA 69
12 David Storl GER 65
13 Maris Urtans LAT 56
14 Dan Taylor USA 46
15 Noah Bryant USA 41
16 Marco Schmidt GER 28
17 Marco Fortes POR 16
18 Dorian Scott JAM 15
19 Jakub Giza POL 14
20 Andriy Semenov UKR 10
Cantwell is the second-highest scoring athlete in the (yet to be posted) all-event Athlete of the Year standings. Mikhnevich is probably the second-best putter in the world, but is penalized a bit as he doesn't test himself against the best often enough.

Discus Throw

Project 30 Watch List

USATF's Project 30 is an attempt to win 30 medals at the 2012 Olympics. So how are things progressing towards this goal?

I'm cribbing this idea 100% from The View From The Finish Line blog. I'm going at it from a different angle, though, and looking at each individual event to see what our chances are. Today I'm looking at the men's hammer throw.

Joe Battaglia's story at Universal Sports today was the inspiration. He profiles two top collegiate throwers, Walter Henning of LSU and Conor McCullough of Princeton, and the USATF's new Hammer Throw Development Program which will target 13- to 17-year-olds. They, along with some other new talent such as Army freshman Trent Kraychir and Ohio high schooler Justin Welch, are the future of the men's hammer throw in the USA. And, hopefully, the USATF program will bring along even more young throwers.

The hammer throw, however, is not a young man's event, as it is possibly the most technical of them all. Of the 24 medals won in Olympic and World Championship competition since 2000, just two went to athletes under the age of 25. About half went to athletes between the ages of 27 and 30. Seeing as how the oldest of those mentioned above (Henning) is just 21, neither he nor his cohort are going to have an impact on the 2012 Olympics. This isn't a bad thing; it's important to constantly build and think in the long term. But when looking two years down the road, we need to look elsewhere.

What about the established athletes? Many-time US champ A.G. Kruger will be 33 in 2012 and is already on the down side of the improvement curve. His best placing at an Olympics or Worlds is 24th. There's no reason to believe he's got a chance at a medal in London. Other vets such as Thomas Freeman (currently 29 years old), Kibwe Johnson (28) and Michael Mai (32) are nowhere near as good or as consistent as Kruger, so they're not medal prospects either.

The only guy the USA has who is in the right age range and still showing improvement is Cory Martin. The 25-year-old Auburn grad has PRed six years in a row, and was in the world's top 50 last year. He's still going to have to get a lot better to have much chance at an Olympic medal, but he's definitely moving in the right direction. He's an Elite Athlete Grant winner from the USATF Foundation. The one weird thing is that he splits his time with the shot, the only resonably competitive hammer thrower anywhere in the world who does. And I can't really blame him; he's #12 in my world rankings and can actually win a (small) bit of prize money in that event, whereas the earning potential of a journeyman hammer thrower is about zilch.

My projection: we have about a 5% chance of winning a medal in this event, and that might be a generous assessment.

LATE EDIT: Martin Bingisser wrote to tell me he agrees that we stand little chance of winning a medal at the 2012 Olympics in the men's hammer throw, but if we do that chance rests on Kibwe Johnson. I'll let him explain:

Most people not following the hammer throw don't know what happened to him last year. He went from being a Pan Am silver medalist, U.S. indoor champ and outdoor runner up to a mediocre thrower in no time. His 2009 SB was down at my level: 67.80m. Because of this, most people have counted him out. But, the reason for the slump was that he changed coaches and completely reworked his technique. He moved to Canada to train with 1972 Oly champ Anatoly Bondarchuk and tore apart his technique last year. Coaches in America don't know how to coach a medalist, that's why we only have one medalist in the past 54 years. Bondarchuk, on the other hand, has coached over a dozen hammer medalists (and a few world record holders). Kibwe made the risky decision to move up there and it is paying off. He was second at Mt. SAC behind a world leading mark from former world medalist Libor Charfreitag. He is just off of his PR. I train with him and based on what I've seen I think he will throw 78 meters this year. Since the 2008 Oly champ unexpectedly retired and the 2004 champ (Murofushi) will turn 38 in 2012, the field is wide open. Kristian Pars leads the remaining athletes, but even he can't seem to get over 81m. 80m will likely win a medal in 2012 and I think Kibwe can be at that level by then.

So in my running total for Project 30, I'll list Johnson as an "outside shot".

Shot Put Rankings

I've done my own world rankings over the last few years, and I've tweaked the system a bit since last year. Here are my initial 2010 rankings for the shot put.

My numerical system is based on a combination of best marks and placing high (with an emphasis on winning) in major competition. This is more or less everything that matters in track & field.

Early on in the season, though, I include an athlete’s best marks from the previous season. Tomasz Majewski has not started his season yet, but as defending world champion it wouldn’t be realistic to leave him out of any ranking of the world’s best shot putters. It’s kind of like fantasy football: you give last year’s stars the benefit of the doubt for a few weeks if they have a slow start, and only after a while do you conclude last year’s stud (Adrian Peterson) is only going to be above average this season.

So, here they are going into Friday’s Millrose Games (* = scheduled to compete)...

1. Christian Cantwell*
He threw the farthest last year, has the best throw this year, and won the only significant competition of the year.

2. Reese Hoffa*
#2 on the 2010 world list

3. Tomasz Majewski (Poland)
Ranked solely on the basis of last year’s accomplishments

4. Dan Taylor* #3 on the world list
5. Ralf Bartels (Germany) second at Nordhausen
6. Adam Nelson* fourth at Nordhausen
7. Andrei Mikhnevich (Belarus)
8. Ryan Whiting
9. Dylan Armstrong (Canada) sixth at Nordhausen
10. Pavel Lyzhyn (Belarus)
11. Pavel Sofin (Russia)
12. Dorian Scott (Jamaica)
12. Sultan Abdulmajeed Alhabashi (Saudi Arabia)
14. Marco Schmidt (Germany) third at Nordhausen
14. Maksim Sidorov (Russia)
16. Zach Lloyd
17. David Storl (Germany) fourth at Nordhausen
17. Maris Urtans (Latvia)
17. Noah Bryant
20. Rhuben Williams

WOMEN
1. Valerie Vili (New Zealand)
The undisputed world’s best

2. Nadine Kleinert (Germany)
First at Nordhausen with a world leader

2. Lijiao Gong (China)
Asian Championships gold medalist, which counts on this year’s rankings due to its late date in 2009

4. Natallia Mikhnevich (Belarus)
5. Anna Avdeeva (Russia)
6. Nadzeya Ostapchuk (Belarus)
7. Denise Hinrichs (Germany) second at Nordhausen
8. Anca Heltne (Romania)
9. Petra Lammert (Germany)
10. Meiju Li (China)
11. Misleydis González (Cuba)
12. Michelle Carter
13. Mailín Vargas (Cuba)
14. Christina Schwanitz (Germany) fourth at Nordhausen
15. Chiara Rosa (Italy)
16. Ling Li (China)
17. Xiangrong Liu (China) Asian Championships silver medalist
17. Assunta Legnante (Italy)
19. Yaniuvis López (Cuba)
20. Anna Omarova (Russia)

World Rankings Update -- Throws

25-deep rankings available here.

Shot Put
1. Reese Hoffa, USA, 189
2. Christian Cantwell, USA, 172
3. Tomasz Majewski, POL, 164
4. Dan Taylor, USA, 130
5. Adam Nelson, USA, 91
This event has been a real mixed bag. Cantwell dominated the indoor season and won the USA outdoor. Hoffa had won three big meets in a row until Cantwell beat him in London with the longest throw of the year. Then today in Stockholm, Majewski had his first major win of the year, but with the year's best mark. Nelson and Taylor have been up and down but usually better than anyone else.

Discus Throw
1. Gerd Kanter, EST, 222
2. Piotr Malachowski, POL, 110
3. Virgilijus Alekna, LTU, 101
4. Zoltán Kövágó, HUN, 94
5. Yennifer Frank Casañas, ESP, 85
Kanter continues to dominate. He has yet to lose.

Hammer Throw
1. Krisztián Pars, HUN, 170
2. Aleksey Zagornyi, RUS, 85
3. Dilshod Nazarov, TJK, 77
4. Primož Kozmus, SLO, 75
5. Igors Sokolovs, LAT, 63
Pars is undefeated, but after that it's a three-way fight.

Javelin Throw
1. Andreas Thorkildsen, NOR, 156
2. Tero Pitkämäki, FIN, 155
3. Vadims Vasilevskis, LAT, 109
4. Teemu Wikkala, FIN, 76
5. Mark Frank, GER, 64
Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki have split their four Golden League meetings. Vasilevskis has the year's best throw but has lost to others more often than not.

World Rankings Update -- Men's Throws

Shot Put
1. Reese Hoffa, USA, 133
2. Tomasz Majewski , POL, 96
3. Christian Cantwell, USA, 92
4. Dan Taylor, USA, 58
5. Dorian Scott, JAM, 34
6. Dylan Armstrong, CAN, 33
7. Adam Nelson, USA, 28
8. Daniel Taylor , USA, 26
9. Pavel Sofyin, RUS, 26
10. Anton Liuboslavski, RUS, 21
Cantwell ruled the indoor season but the others have raised their game outdoors and surpassed him. Hoffa has three firsts and two seconds since bombing at Drake in April.

Discus Throw
1. Gerd Kanter, EST, 188
2. Piotr Malachowski, POL, 69
3. Zoltán Kövágó, HUN, 37
4. Yennifer Frank Casañas, ESP, 35
5. Robert Harting, GER, 34
6. Virgilijus Alekna , LTU, 25
7. Jarred Rome, USA, 24
8. Erik Cadée, NED, 14
9. Ian Waltz, USA, 14
10. Markus Münch, GER, 12
This is probably the single most-ignored event on the World Athletics Tour and will benefit the most when next year's Diamond League plan goes into action.

Hammer Throw
1. Krisztián Pars, HUN, 136
2. Dilshod Nazarov, TJK, 65
3. Primož Kozmus, SLO, 57
4. Aleksey Zagornyi, RUS, 40
5. Marco Lingua, ITA, 39
6. Artem Rubanko , UKR, 32
7. Igors Sokolovs , LAT, 32
8. András Haklits, CRO, 31
9. Nicola Vizzoni, ITA, 25
10. Juriy Shaunov, BLR, 24

Javelin Throw
1. Andreas Thorkildsen, NOR, 55
2. Vadims Vasilevskis, LAT, 41
3. Tero Pitkämäki, FIN, 32
4. Stuart Farquhar, NZL, 21
5. Ainars Kovals, LAT, 17
6. Eriks Rags, LAT, 17
7. Kärlis Alainis, LAT, 15
8. Mark Frank, GER, 15
9. Igor Janik, POL, 12
10. Teemu Wikkala, FIN, 12
This is a late-starting event as the countries that dominate it—Finland and Norway—have barely shoveled out. Pitkämäki has already traded wins with Thorkildsen, and expect much of the same as the year goes along.

World Rankings Update - Throws

MEN
Shot Put
Christian Cantwell USA 87
Reese Hoffa USA 62
Dan Taylor USA 60
Tomas Majewski POL 55
Adam Nelson USA 29
Dorian Scott JAM 24
Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi KSA 20
Russ Winger USA 19
Pavel Sofyin RUS 16
Dylan Armstrong CAN 15
Taylor put up the year's leading throw on Saturday, but Cantwell and Hoffa still lead him on depth of performance. Armstrong's win in Halle, Germany today put him into the top ten.

Discus Throw
Gerd Kanter EST 125
Yennifer Frank Casañas ESP 22
Piotr Malachowski POL 20
Zoltán Kövágó HUN 16
Robert Harting GER 7
Kanter and Casañas took the top spots in Suzhou, China yesterday; the next three took the top sports in Halle.

Hammer Throw
Krisztián Pars HUN 72
Primož Kozmus SLO 34
Marco Lingua ITA 28
Dilshod Nazarov TJK 28
András Haklits CRO 14
Pars won in Halle; the next four were all in action today in the Grand Prix meet in Belem, Brazil, with Kozmus coming out the winner.

Javelin Throw
Vadims Vasilevskis LAT 38
Stuart Farquhar NZL 27
Andreas Thorkildsen NOR 20
Eriks Rags LAT 15
Kärlis Alainis LAT 15
Vasileskis put up a big throw of 90.71 yesterday in Latvia.

WOMEN
Shot Put
Valerie Vili NZL 228
Denise Hinrichs GER 109
Natallia Mikhnevich BLR 86
Lijiao Gong CHN 83
Anca Heltne ROU 82
Misleydis González CUB 77
Mailin Vargas CUB 62
Petra Lammert GER 60
Nadine Kleinert GER 45
Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR 42
Vili continues to dominate this event to a ridiculous degree. Today she beat Mikhnevich, González and Vargas in Brazil and now owns all of the year's six longest throws. Kleinert beat Hinrichs in Halle today while Gong threw well to win in Suzhou.

Discus Throw
Yarisley Collado CUB 56
Yarelis Barrios CUB 54
Nicoleta Grasu ROU 50
Aimin Song CHN 46
Aretha Thurmond USA 43
Dani Samuels AUS 32
Beatrice Faumina NZL 26
Becky Breisch USA 22
Olena Antonova UKR 16
Stephanie Brown-Trafton USA 16
Barrios beat Collado in Brazil today, while Song won in China yesterday.

Hammer Throw
Anita Wlodarczyk POL 98
Betty Heidler GER 90
Martina Hrasnová SVK 79
Kathrin Klaas GER 37
Marina Marghiev MDA 34
Jennifer Dahlgren ARG 24
Sultana Frizell CAN 19
Clarissa Claretti ITA 18
Stéphanie Falzon FRA 18
Iryna Sekachova UKR 17
The top four were all in action today in Halle, with Wlodarczyk coming out the winner over Heidler.

Javelin Throw
Osleidys Menéndez CUB 52
Mariya Abakumova RUS 50
Yanet Cruz CUB 47
Kimberley Mickle AUS 42
Monica Stoian ROU 32
Christina Obergföll GER 30
Maria Nicoleta Negoita ROU 18
Alessandra Resende BRA 16
Steffi Nerius GER 14
Martina Ratej SLO 13
Vira Rebryk UKR 13
Menéndez took the Grand Prix competition in Brazil today over Cruz. Obergföll started her season in Halle today with a win and the world-leading throw, leaving Nerius and Abakumova in her wake.

World Rankings Update - Throws

MEN
Shot Put
1. Christian Cantwell, USA, 87
2. Reese Hoffa, USA, 62
3. Tomas Majewski, POL, 55
4. Dan Taylor, USA, 40
5. Adam Nelson, USA, 29
6. Dorian Scott, JAM, 24
7. Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi, KSA, 20
8. Russ Winger, USA, 19
9. Pavel Sofyin, RUS, 16
10. Anton Liuboslavski, RUS, 12
Hoffa started looking like his old self for the first time this year when he won the Super GRand Prix meet in Doha on Friday with the year's best throw. Majewski, second in Doha, is proving his Olympic win was no one-off success. Saudi Al-Hebshi had a huge PR in Doha in the midst of an otherwise unremarkable series.

Discus Throw
1. Gerd Kanter, EST, 96
2. Yennifer Frank Casañas, ESP, 15
3. Markus Münch, GER, 4
4. Erik Cadée, NED, 2
5. Märt Israel, EST, 1
What little competition the discus has seen has been totally dominated by Kanter.

Hammer Throw
1. Krisztián Pars, HUN, 53
2. Aleksey Zagornyi, RUS, 12
3. Marco Lingua, ITA, 10
4. Nicola Vizzoni, ITA, 5
5. Pavel Kryvitski, BLR, 2
Ditto here for Pars.

Javelin Throw
1. Stuart Farquhar, NZL, 27
2. Andreas Thorkildsen, NOR, 20
3. Eriks Rags, LAT, 15
4. Kärlis Alainis, LAT, 15
5. Joshua Robinson, AUS, 13
6. Sergey Makarov, RUS, 12
7. Peter Esenwein, GER, 11
8. Vadims Vasilevskis, LAT, 10
9. Yukifumi Murakami, JPN, 10
10. Oleksandr Tertychnyi, UKR, 9
Thorkildsen made his 2009 debut in Doha in Friday; he won, but the distance was unimpressive.

WOMEN
Shot Put
1. Valerie Vili, NZL, 135
2. Denise Hinrichs, GER, 83
3. Anca Heltne, ROU, 76
4. Petra Lammert, GER, 50
5. Nadzeya Ostapchuk, BLR, 42
6. Lijiao Gong, CHN, 39
7. Kristin Heaston, USA, 25
8. Anna Avdeyeva, RUS, 17
9. Nadine Kleinert, GER, 17
10. Anna Omarova, RUS, 15
Vili's dominance is absolute at this point.

Discus Throw
1. Dani Samuels, AUS, 22
2. Beatrice Faumina, NZL, 21
3. Aimin Song, CHN, 20
4. Becky Breisch, USA, 18
5. Aretha Thurmond, USA, 17
6. Stephanie Brown-Trafton, USA, 13
7. Nicoleta Grasu, ROU, 12
8. Yarisley Collado, CUB, 8
9. Kimberly Mulhall, AUS, 5
9. Suzy Powell Roos, USA, 5
9. Yarelis Barrios, CUB, 5
The low point totals are indicative of the low level of competition so far this year.

Hammer Throw
1. Anita Wlodarczyk, POL, 67
2. Betty Heidler, GER, 40
3. Martina Hrasnová, SVK, 39
4. Jennifer Dahlgren, ARG, 24
5. Marina Marghiev, MDA, 23
6. Kathrin Klaas, GER, 20
7. Sultana Frizell, CAN, 19
8. Clarissa Claretti, ITA, 18
8. Stéphanie Falzon, FRA, 18
10. Zalina Marghieva, MDA, 15
Wlodarczyk won in Doha on Friday over Hrasnová, who won last week's competition held in memorial to Kalima Skolimowska.

Javelin Throw
1. Mariya Abakumova, RUS, 43
2. Kimberley Mickle, AUS, 42
3. Vira Rebryk, UKR, 13
4. Sunette Viljoen, RSA, 8
5. Yanet Cruz, CUB, 8
6. Laura Cornford, AUS, 7
7. Hae-an Suh, KOR, 6
8. Kim Kreiner, USA, 6
9. Moonika Aava, EST, 6
10. Emika Yoshida, JPN, 5
Abakumova put up some big throws early in the season, but Mickle is beginning to prove herself as a reliable performer.

World Rankings Update - Throws

The rankings in the long throws are a bit sketchy due to the season having just started, and are listed only five deep. The shot has been going strong since January, though.

MEN
Shot Put
1. Christian Cantwell, USA, 72
2. Tomas Majewski, POL, 31
3. Reese Hoffa, USA, 23
4. Adam Nelson, USA, 21
5. Pavel Sofyin, RUS, 16
6. Russ Winger, USA, 15
7. Dan Taylor, USA, 13
8. Anton Liuboslavski, RUS, 12
9. Garrett Johnson, USA, 10
10. Yves Niare, FRA, 7
Cantwell continued his domination of this event on Friday in Dakar, leaving Hoffa and Winger well behind.

Discus Throw
1. Gerd Kanter, EST, 47
2. Yennifer Frank Casañas, ESP, 15
3. Markus Münch, GER, 4
4. Erik Cadée, NED, 2
5. Märt Israel, EST, 1
Kanter won the European Winter Throwing Cup and a week later broke the world record in the rarely-contested indoor discus.

Hammer Throw
1. Krisztián Pars, HUN, 17
2. Aleksey Zagornyi, RUS, 9
2. Marco Lingua, ITA, 9
4. Nicola Vizzoni, ITA, 3
5. Pavel Kryvitski, BLR, 2

Javelin Throw
1. Stuart Farquhar, NZL, 25
2. Joshua Robinson, AUS, 13
3. Kärlis Alainis, LAT, 10
4. Jarkko Koski-Vähälä, FIN, 7
4. Peter Esenwein, GER, 7
Alainis and Esenwein were first and second at Saturday's Grand Prix meet in Dakar.

WOMEN
Shot Put
1. Valerie Vili, NZL, 135
2. Denise Hinrichs, GER, 83
3. Anca Heltne, ROU, 76
4. Petra Lammert, GER, 50
5. Nadzeya Ostapchuk, BLR, 42
6. Lijiao Gong, CHN, 39
7. Kristin Heaston, USA, 22
8. Anna Avdeyeva, RUS, 17
8. Nadine Kleinert, GER, 17
10. Anna Omarova, RUS, 15
Vili hasn't been even remotely pushed all year. German indoor champ Hinrichs won in Dakar on Friday.

Discus Throw
1. Dani Samuels, AUS, 22
2. Beatrice Faumina, NZL, 21
3. Aimin Song, CHN, 20
4. Aretha Thurmond, USA, 16
4. Becky Breisch, USA, 16
Samuels won both Australian stops on the World Athletics Tour.

Hammer Throw
1. Betty Heidler, GER, 40
2. Anita Wlodarczyk, POL, 30
3. Jennifer Dahlgren, ARG, 24
4. Kathrin Klaas, GER, 20
5. Manuela Montebrun, FRA, 12

Javelin Throw
1. Mariya Abakumova, RUS, 43
2. Kimberley Mickle, AUS, 24
3. Yanet Cruz, CUB, 8
4. Sunette Viljoen, RSA, 8
5. Laura Cornford, AUS, 7

Throws Update

Normally I'll post my World Rankings for the jumps on Saturday and do the throws on Sunday, but I'm not up to date on the jumps and I'll be out of town tomorrow. So here are the throws...or more accurately, the throw.

MEN
Shot Put
1. Christian Cantwell, USA, 60
2. Adam Nelson, USA, 31
3. Tomas Majewski, POL, 28
4. Reese Hoffa, USA, 23
5. Dan Taylor, USA, 18
There has been so little shot-putting action this year that listing more than five is pointless. Cantwell is the only athlete with multiple major wins.

WOMEN
Shot Put
1. Valerie Vili NZL 64
2. Petra Lammert GER 20
2. Kristin Heaston USA 20
4. Denise Hinrichs GER 19
5. Anna Avdeyeva RUS 13
5. Anna Omarova RUS 13
Vili has three wins in three outings. Heaston has piled up points in three World Athletics Tour meets in Australia and New Zealand but will meet reality once the outdoor season comes to the northern hemisphere. Lammert earned her second ranking mostly through winnin the European Indoor title. Lurking in seventh place is Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who has competed just twice this year and without much distinction.