# 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw

The Men's Discus Throw event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 18 and August 19.
As the only man to throw in excess of seventy metres that season, reigning world and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia was the event favourite. Veteran athlete Virgilijus Alekna, the last athlete to beat Kanter in competition, was a strong medal possibility. Olympic silver medallist Piotr Małachowski was another contender, as was German Robert Harting who won silver at the previous world championships. The season had been of a high standard, with a number of athletes throwing over 65 m, including Frank Casañas, Bogdan Pishchalnikov and Zoltán Kővágó.
On the first day of competition, qualification went smoothly as many of the highest ranked athletes qualified for the final on their first throw, with seven of them passing the automatic qualification mark of 64.50 m. Casañas and Estonia's number two Aleksander Tammert were the only high-profile athletes to be eliminated. Home competitor Harting had the best throw of the day (66.81), and Kővágó and Kanter were the next best qualifiers.
In the final, Małachowski and Harting started very well on their first throws, with the former taking the lead with a Polish record-breaking throw, while the latter recorded a season's best. The pre-event favourites Kanter and Alekna were unable to challenge the two, as the Estonian took the bronze with his fourth round throw of 66.88 m and the Lithuanian never bettered his first throw of the day (66.36 m) and finished up in fourth place. Consistently throwing better than the rest of the field, Harting and Małachowski battled for the top spot. The Pole improved his lead with 69.15 m in the fifth round, another national record, but Harting took the gold with his final throw of the competition, recording a personal best of 69.43 m.
The victory for the home athlete was marred by his controversial comments regarding an initiative by victims of doping in East Germany. Former East German athletes, who had suffered through the state-sponsored doping program in the 1980s, were distributing glasses outside the stadium to encourage people not to "turn a blind eye" to doping. Harting said that he wished his discus would bounce from the ground and hit wearers in the eyes, but he later retracted and apologise for his statement.

## Medallists

| Gold | Robert Harting Germany (GER) |
| Silver | Piotr Małachowski Poland (POL) |
| Bronze | Gerd Kanter Estonia (EST) |

## Records

| World record | Jürgen Schult (GDR) | 74.08 | Neubrandenburg, East Germany | 6 June 1986 |
| Championship record | Virgilijus Alekna (LTU) | 70.17 | Helsinki, Finland | 7 August 2005 |
| World leading | Gerd Kanter (EST) | 71.64 | Kohila Parish, Estonia | 25 June 2009 |
| African record | Frantz Kruger (RSA) | 70.32 | Salon-de-Provence, France | 26 May 2002 |
| Asian record | Ehsan Haddadi (IRI) | 69.32 | Tallinn, Estonia | 3 June 2008 |
| North American record | Ben Plucknett (USA) | 71.32 | Eugene, United States | 4 June 1983 |
| South American record | Jorge Balliengo (ARG) | 66.32 | Rosario, Argentina | 15 April 2006 |
| European record | Jürgen Schult (GDR) | 74.08 | Neubrandenburg, East Germany | 6 June 1986 |
| Oceanian record | Benn Harradine (AUS) | 66.37 | Salinas, United States | 22 May 2008 |

## Qualification standards

| A standard | B standard |
| 64.50 m | 62.50 m |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| August 18, 2009 | 10:05 | Qualification |
| August 19, 2009 | 20:10 | Final |

## Results
### Qualification

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 64.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Group | Athlete | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | A | Robert Harting | Germany (GER) | 66.81 | | | 66.81 | Q |
| 2 | A | Gerd Kanter | Estonia (EST) | 66.73 | | | 66.73 | Q |
| 3 | B | Zoltán Kővágó | Hungary (HUN) | x | 65.82 | | 65.82 | Q |
| 4 | B | Jarred Rome | United States (USA) | 60.92 | 65.51 | | 65.51 | Q |
| 5 | A | Casey Malone | United States (USA) | 65.13 | | | 65.13 | Q |
| 6 | B | Virgilijus Alekna | Lithuania (LTU) | 65.04 | | | 65.04 | Q |
| 7 | A | Mario Pestano | Spain (ESP) | 65.03 | | | 65.03 | Q |
| 8 | B | Piotr Małachowski | Poland (POL) | 64.20 | 64.48 | 62.65 | 64.48 | q |
| 9 | A | Bogdan Pishchalnikov | Russia (RUS) | 62.93 | 61.09 | 60.08 | 62.93 | q |
| 10 | A | Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly | Egypt (EGY) | 62.84 | 62.09 | x | 62.84 | q |
| 11 | B | Gerhard Mayer | Austria (AUT) | 62.53 | 59.33 | 62.19 | 62.53 | q |
| 12 | B | Frantz Kruger | Finland (FIN) | 62.29 | x | 60.45 | 62.29 | q |
| 13 | A | Aleksander Tammert | Estonia (EST) | 62.24 | 61.93 | 59.44 | 62.24 | |
| 14 | A | Ian Waltz | United States (USA) | x | 60.27 | 62.04 | 62.04 | |
| 15 | A | Benn Harradine | Australia (AUS) | 60.73 | 61.74 | 60.79 | 61.74 | |
| 16 | B | Frank Casañas | Spain (ESP) | x | x | 61.10 | 61.10 | |
| 17 | A | Gaute Myklebust | Norway (NOR) | x | 60.80 | x | 60.80 | |
| 18 | A | Bertrand Vili | France (FRA) | 60.68 | x | x | 60.68 | |
| 19 | B | Erik Cadee | Netherlands (NED) | x | 60.64 | x | 60.64 | |
| 20 | B | Markus Münch | Germany (GER) | 60.55 | x | 59.12 | 60.55 | |
| 21 | B | Ivan Hryshyn | Ukraine (UKR) | 59.93 | 57.28 | x | 59.93 | |
| 22 | B | Märt Israel | Estonia (EST) | 59.58 | x | - | 59.58 | |
| 23 | A | Jorge Balliengo | Argentina (ARG) | 56.69 | 55.32 | 59.19 | 59.19 | |
| 24 | B | Ahmed Mohamed Dheeb | Qatar (QAT) | 55.33 | 59.16 | x | 59.16 | |
| 25 | B | Nikolay Sedyuk | Russia (RUS) | x | 59.03 | 58.62 | 59.03 | |
| 26 | A | Oleksiy Semenov | Ukraine (UKR) | 58.78 | 57.31 | x | 58.78 | |
| 27 | A | Daniel Schärer | Switzerland (SUI) | 58.50 | 58.23 | 57.22 | 58.50 | |
| 28 | B | Germán Lauro | Argentina (ARG) | 57.88 | x | x | 57.88 | |
| 29 | B | Ercüment Olgundeniz | Turkey (TUR) | 56.54 | x | 57.52 | 57.52 | |
| | A | Haidar Nasir | Iraq (IRQ) | x | x | x | NM | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | Result | Notes |
| | Robert Harting | Germany (GER) | 68.25 | 67.04 | 67.80 | x | 67.80 | 69.43 | 69.43 | PB |
| | Piotr Małachowski | Poland (POL) | 68.77 | 68.05 | 67.00 | x | 69.15 | 67.33 | 69.15 | NR |
| | Gerd Kanter | Estonia (EST) | 65.91 | 65.65 | x | 66.88 | 66.24 | 65.45 | 66.88 | |
| 4 | Virgilijus Alekna | Lithuania (LTU) | 66.36 | 66.32 | 65.68 | 64.53 | 66.24 | x | 66.36 | |
| 5 | Casey Malone | United States (USA) | 63.61 | 61.59 | 65.64 | 64.84 | 65.98 | 66.06 | 66.06 | |
| 6 | Zoltán Kővágó | Hungary (HUN) | x | 63.09 | 62.47 | x | 65.17 | 61.69 | 65.17 | |
| 7 | Bogdan Pishchalnikov | Russia (RUS) | 62.03 | 63.29 | 63.18 | 64.26 | 65.02 | x | 65.02 | |
| 8 | Gerhard Mayer | Austria (AUT) | 62.16 | 60.49 | 63.17 | x | 60.83 | x | 63.17 | |
| 9 | Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly | Egypt (EGY) | 62.13 | 62.83 | 62.76 | | | | 62.83 | |
| 10 | Mario Pestano | Spain (ESP) | 62.76 | x | 62.27 | | | | 62.76 | |
| 11 | Jarred Rome | United States (USA) | 58.48 | 62.47 | x | | | | 62.47 | |
| 12 | Frantz Kruger | Finland (FIN) | x | 59.77 | x | | | | 59.77 | |
Key: PB = Personal best, NR = National record