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

The Men's Hammer Throw event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 15 and August 17. With reigning champion Ivan Tsikhan banned from competition for doping offences, the 2008 Olympic gold and silver medallists Primož Kozmus and Krisztián Pars were the favourites in the event. Pars entered the competition with a world-leading throw of 81.43 m and an 18 competition win-streak. Belarusian Yuriy Shayunov and Russian Aleksey Zagornyi, the only other athletes to have thrown over eighty metres twice that season prior to the championships, were identified as possible podium finishers. Nicola Vizzoni, Igor Sokolov, Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, Szymon Ziółkowski, Koji Murofushi, and Libor Charfreitag were all predicted to have an outside chance of a medal.
On the first day of competition, Kozmus was the first to pass the automatic qualifying mark of 77.50 m. Pars had the best effort of the day with 78.68 m, while former world champion Ziółkowski led group A with a throw of 77.89 m. Aspiring medallists Sokolov, Shayunov and Karjalainen all failed to progress to the final of the competition. On the final day of the hammer throw, the favourite Kozmus delivered a best of 80.15 m to take the gold medal, Slovenia's first ever in the World Championships. Ziółkowski's 79.30 m, the best of his season, was enough to take the silver – his first medal at a major championships since 2005. The level of the competition, however, failed to live up to expectations: the world-leader Pars started poorly and, after a number of fouls, he never regained ground and finished in fourth place. Furthermore, the performance of bronze medallist Zagornyi (78.09) was the shortest-ever distance of a medal winner in championship history.

## Medalists

| Gold | Primož Kozmus Slovenia (SLO) |
| Silver | Szymon Ziółkowski Poland (POL) |
| Bronze | Aleksey Zagornyi Russia (RUS) |

## Abbreviations

* All results shown are in metres
| Q | automatic qualification |
| q | qualification by rank |
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| WR | world record |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |

## Records

| World record | Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 86.74 | Stuttgart, West Germany | 30 August 1986 |
| Championship record | Ivan Tsikhan (BLR) | 83.89 | Helsinki, Finland | 8 August 2005 |
| World Leading | Krisztián Pars (HUN) | 81.43 | Veszprém, Hungary | 25 April 2009 |
| African record | Chris Harmse (RSA) | 80.63 | Durban, South Africa | 15 April 2004 |
| Asian record | Koji Murofushi (JPN) | 84.86 | Prague, Czech Republic | 29 June 2003 |
| North American record | Lance Deal (USA) | 82.52 | Milan, Italy | 7 September 1996 |
| South American record | Juan Ignacio Cerra (ARG) | 76.42 | Trieste, Italy | 25 July 2001 |
| European record | Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 86.74 | Stuttgart, West Germany | 30 August 1986 |
| Oceanian record | Stuart Rendell (AUS) | 79.29 | Varaždin, Croatia | 6 July 2002 |

## Qualification standards

| A standard | B standard |
| 77.50m | 74.30m |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| August 15, 2009 | 12:00 | Qualification |
| August 17, 2009 | 18:05 | Final |

## Results
### Qualification

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 77.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Group | Athlete | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | B | Krisztián Pars | Hungary (HUN) | 72.94 | 78.68 | | 78.68 | Q |
| 2 | A | Szymon Ziółkowski | Poland (POL) | 77.89 | | | 77.89 | Q |
| 3 | B | Pavel Kryvitski | Belarus (BLR) | 70.70 | 72.14 | 77.85 | 77.85 | Q |
| 4 | A | Sergey Lytvynov Jr. | Germany (GER) | 77.68 | | | 77.68 | Q |
| 5 | A | Primož Kozmus | Slovenia (SLO) | 77.55 | | | 77.55 | Q |
| 6 | A | Igor Vinichenko | Russia (RUS) | 77.54 | | | 77.54 | Q |
| 7 | A | Nicola Vizzoni | Italy (ITA) | 76.71 | x | 76.95 | 76.95 | q |
| 8 | B | Markus Esser | Germany (GER) | 76.81 | 76.67 | x | 76.81 | q |
| 9 | A | András Haklits | Croatia (CRO) | 75.50 | 76.39 | 75.73 | 76.39 | q |
| 10 | B | Libor Charfreitag | Slovakia (SVK) | 69.71 | 75.39 | 76.29 | 76.29 | q |
| 11 | A | Dilshod Nazarov | Tajikistan (TJK) | 73.84 | 74.73 | 75.83 | 75.83 | q |
| 12 | B | Aleksey Zagornyi | Russia (RUS) | 75.38 | 74.93 | 73.75 | 75.38 | q |
| 13 | A | Ali Al-Zinkawi | Kuwait (KUW) | x | 73.82 | 75.10 | 75.10 | |
| 14 | B | Lukáš Melich | Czech Republic (CZE) | 74.40 | 72.98 | 74.47 | 74.47 | |
| 15 | B | Thomas J. Freeman | United States (USA) | 71.38 | 74.19 | 72.58 | 74.19 | |
| 16 | A | Olli-Pekka Karjalainen | Finland (FIN) | x | 73.25 | 74.09 | 74.09 | |
| 17 | B | Igors Sokolovs | Latvia (LAT) | 73.96 | 73.97 | 73.12 | 73.97 | |
| 18 | B | David Söderberg | Finland (FIN) | 73.69 | 73.14 | 73.56 | 73.69 | |
| 19 | B | Jérôme Bortoluzzi | France (FRA) | x | 73.09 | 70.69 | 73.09 | |
| 20 | A | Mohsen El Anany | Egypt (EGY) | 71.42 | 72.68 | 72.05 | 72.68 | |
| 21 | A | Michael Mai | United States (USA) | 72.58 | x | 67.47 | 72.58 | |
| 22 | B | Olexiy Sokyrskiyy | Ukraine (UKR) | 70.67 | x | 72.56 | 72.56 | |
| 23 | B | Alexandros Papadimitriou | Greece (GRE) | x | x | 72.02 | 72.02 | |
| 24 | B | Javier Cienfuegos | Spain (ESP) | 69.60 | 71.63 | 72.01 | 72.01 | |
| 25 | B | Dzmitry Shako | Belarus (BLR) | 71.80 | 70.57 | x | 71.80 | |
| 26 | A | Yury Shayunou | Belarus (BLR) | 71.37 | x | x | 71.37 | |
| 27 | B | Eşref Apak | Turkey (TUR) | x | 70.70 | x | 70.70 | |
| 28 | A | A. G. Kruger | United States (USA) | 67.40 | x | 70.19 | 70.19 | |
| 29 | A | Artem Rubanko | Ukraine (UKR) | x | 69.81 | x | 69.81 | |
| 30 | B | Juan Ignacio Cerra | Argentina (ARG) | 66.77 | 67.98 | 69.37 | 69.37 | |
| 31 | B | Bergur Ingi Pétursson | Iceland (ISL) | 67.32 | 68.62 | x | 68.62 | |
| 32 | A | Ainārs Vaičulens | Latvia (LAT) | 65.70 | 66.89 | x | 66.89 | |
| 33 | A | Amanmurad Hommadov | Turkmenistan (TKM) | 57.39 | 56.46 | x | 57.39 | |
| | A | Chris Harmse | South Africa (RSA) | x | x | x | NM | |
Key: NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result), Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | Result | Notes |
| | Primož Kozmus | Slovenia (SLO) | 75.14 | 79.74 | 77.21 | 79.28 | 80.15 | 80.84 | 80.84 | SB |
| | Szymon Ziółkowski | Poland (POL) | 77.44 | 79.30 | 77.85 | 77.66 | 78.09 | 76.89 | 79.30 | SB |
| | Aleksey Zagornyi | Russia (RUS) | 76.11 | x | 77.42 | x | 75.11 | 78.09 | 78.09 | |
| 4 | Krisztián Pars | Hungary (HUN) | 75.51 | x | x | 77.45 | x | x | 77.45 | |
| 5 | Sergej Litvinov | Germany (GER) | 74.50 | 74.49 | 75.88 | 76.58 | 76.00 | 74.45 | 76.58 | |
| 6 | Markus Esser | Germany (GER) | 68.07 | 76.27 | 74.07 | x | x | x | 76.27 | |
| 7 | András Haklits | Croatia (CRO) | 72.60 | 75.12 | 75.09 | x | 74.82 | 76.26 | 76.26 | |
| 8 | Pavel Kryvitski | Belarus (BLR) | 73.72 | x | 72.73 | x | x | 76.00 | 76.00 | |
| 9 | Nicola Vizzoni | Italy (ITA) | x | x | 73.70 | | | | 73.70 | |
| 10 | Libor Charfreitag | Slovakia (SVK) | x | 72.63 | x | | | | 72.63 | |
| 11 | Dilshod Nazarov | Tajikistan (TJK) | x | x | 71.69 | | | | 71.69 | |
| | Igor Vinichenko | Russia (RUS) | x | x | x | | | | NM | |
Key: NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result), SB = Seasonal best