Each month, I’ll touch on some interesting stories in the world of throwing. In this edition, you’ll read about the slick ring debacle at the Tokyo Worlds, the coaching retirement of Andrew Ninow, and the javelin adventures of Sarah Blake. At the end of the piece, I’ve included some of my favorite photos from the past year or two.

Slippery people

A recent article in The Athletic regarding the playing surface at MetLife Stadium quotes 49ers tight end George Kittle thusly:

“No NFL field should be the butt of a joke…Ever. I feel like all fields should have a level of safety to it. I just don’t get why there’s not a standard for, ‘Hey, you gotta pick between one or two turfs.’ There shouldn’t be 12 different turfs and 12 different grass fields. I just think that’s weird because most other sports, it’s not like basketball players play on different hardwood, soccer players in Europe all play on really nice grass. So it’s just weird to me.”

Throwers everywhere feel your pain, George! Someone randomly tuning into the men’s discus comp at the recent World Championships might be forgiven for wondering why the event was being contested on an ice rink. Full respect to Daniel Ståhl, Mykolas Alekna and Alex Rose for keeping their poop together under horrendous conditions in Tokyo, but shouldn’t World Athletics be able to provide a throwing surface that maintains some grippiness in the rain? 

Mo Saatara, who has coached Camryn Rogers to Olympic and World hammer gold and co-coached Mykolas Alekana to a European title and six total medals at international championships, told me that while World Athletics does require a certain type of finish on the concrete throwing pads used in the shot, disc, and hammer, they do not take the threat of rain into account. “In dry conditions,” he explained, “the standard World Athletics surface is excellent. But, there’s not a lot of texture to it, so when it rains, it gets slippery.”

John Smith, coach of several Olympic and World Championship finalists and approximately one jillion NCAA medalists, says it is not difficult to construct a pad that works in all conditions if you follow these steps:

1. Trowel the freshly poured concrete until it is shiny like a garage floor.
2. Let it cure for 2-3 weeks.
3. Mix 1 gallon of muriatic acid with 4 gallons of water.
4. Pour the acid/water mixture onto the concrete.
5. Let it sit for 45 seconds.
6. Wash it off.

That process, he says, will result in a slightly pitted surface that “is fast but still works in wet weather.”

It would be nice if World Athletics were to take that kind of care in the construction of throwing rings, but in the meantime, Saatara and Smith agree that athletes must prepare for lousy conditions by training in the rain. 

The facility at the pre-Worlds camp for Canadian athletes featured a ring exactly like those in Japan National Stadium, and Mo had Rogers take some throws during a storm so they’d be ready for any eventuality in the actual comp.

Smith recalled nightmare conditions during women’s discus qualification at the 1988 Olympic Trials.

“It was pouring so bad, they took the men’s long jump inside, but they let the women’s discus go on. Luckily, it had been raining a lot where we practiced in Indiana, so we were ready.”

Smith’s future wife, Connie Price, was able to get off one decent attempt out of three, but that was enough to put her in the final, which she ended up winning. 

Saatara and Smith insist their athletes show up to comps prepared with shoes that will give them the best chance of maintaining their footing in a slick ring.

Rogers is a Nike athlete who, according to Mo, prefers to throw in SDs “rain or shine,” and always travels with a newer pair that provide optimum grip.

Smith calls the Puma model from the 1970s the best throwing shoe he’s ever seen, but as they went the way of the leisure suit, he has his athletes try different models of currently available brands so they are ready for anything. The Velaasa Stones, for example, are considered a good bet on a slippery surface.

There is another factor here that, according to Smith, can determine an athlete’s ability to stay upright on a rainy day—bodyweight.

 “Keep in mind,” he says, “that semi-trucks handle ice better than regular cars. So the heavier the guy, the more grip they have.”

As if throwers needed another reason to shovel it in at mealtime.

A whole new world

One of the top throws performances of 2025 came from Ralford Mullings, who launched an NCAA Championships record 69.31m while denying the heavily-favored Mykolas Alekna his first collegiate title. Those two will go head-to-head once again at next year’s NCAAs, each under the care of a new coach.

After a sensational career under Mo Saatara at Cal, Mykolas has transferred to Oregon where he will be mentored in 2026 by Brian Blutreich. Ralford will remain at Oklahoma, but his coach there for the past two years, Andrew Ninow, has left the business with Pat Ebel coming over from Auburn to replace him. 

For better or worse, both of these situations reflect the current state of NCAA sports. 

The “better” part involves Mykolas, who was able to take advantage of modern transfer and athlete compensation rules to negotiate an undisclosed sum from Oregon’s NIL collective. It’s not easy making a living as a professional discus thrower, even when you’re the World Record holder, and it might make a big difference in his life if he can begin his post-collegiate career this summer with an advanced degree and money in the bank.

The “worse” part involves coach Ninow, one of the bright lights among American throws coaches, who felt he could not stay in a profession that offers little or no security to him and his family.

Certainly, coaching in the NCAA has never been a stable way to make a buck. Head coaches in all sports have been subject to dismissal based on their won/lost records, and when a head coach is axed their assistants generally get the boot as well.

But the situation has been made markedly worse now that a new and incredibly expensive arms race has broken out among top football and basketball schools. In order to lure the best coaches in those sports, schools have been offering massive salaries. In order to lure the best athletes, schools have been pouring millions of dollars into upgraded facilities. 

This has encouraged athletic departments to claw back some of the money they’d previously devoted to non-revenue sports. And it’s not only roster sizes and travel budgets that have shrunk. So has the amount of patience afforded to coaches of those sports who, in the past, might have been valued for their contribution to the educational mission of their school. 

Take, for example, Gary Wienecke, who served as head coach of the men’s track and cross country programs at the University of Illinois for thirty-six years without winning an NCAA title. According to the U of I web page, Wieneke’s best seasons were from “1985-95 when the Illini placed in the top three 20 times in 22 Big Ten meets.” 

Because he ran a clean, competitive program that reflected well on the university, Wienecke was a revered figure at U of I. But today, when money invested in sports is meant to produce conference and national championships, it’s hard to imagine a coach with Wienecke’s record keeping his job for the long haul.

Coach Ninow read the writing on the wall, and did not like the message.

“These days,” he said when we spoke last fall, “there’s no security in your position no matter how well the athletes in your events do. If the head coach gets fired, you’re gone as well, and then you’re at the mercy of what’s available, which can mean uprooting your family and moving across the country for a job that’s no more secure than the one you left.”

He described working for Oklahoma head coach James Thomas as “amazing” but says he’s “not getting a sense that Olympic sports are a priority” these days. 

Ninow and his wife love living in Norman with their two children, and couldn’t face the idea of having to uproot them because of a coaching shakeup that could come at any time. 

So, in spite of the fact that he’d have another year coaching the NCAA champion, Ninow decided to resign his position and take a job at a non-profit that works with the University to raise money for the College of Engineering. 

Breaking the news to his throwing squad wasn’t easy, but Ninow says that “one common thread with all my recruits is that they are good character people, family people, and I explained to them it had nothing to do with them or with OU or the head coach. Making the change was the right thing to do as a dad. They know my wife and kids, and even though it was not an easy thing to swallow, they were able to understand it was the right move.”

As for Mullings, Coach Ninow believes he’ll do just fine under Ebel. “Ralford and I have done some unique things technically,” he said, “but Ralford is a smart guy and Ebel is a great coach. And I’ll be around to give guidance if they ever need it.”

As to the future of track and field in the NCAA, Ninow fears that the “business mindset” has carried over from football and basketball. “The difference,” he says, “is that those guys make a lot of money. If universities want to retain coaches in the non-revenue sports, coaches who are wired for family and mentorship, who support the ideals of the university, they need to make it doable.”

Breakthrough

When Sarah Blake was in high school, someone spotted her playing baseball against boys and told the track coach she had “a hell of an arm.” The track coach then convinced her to give javelining a try. It was the beginning of a long and often tortured romance with the event.

World Athletics profiles include a “progression” page which traces the athlete’s PBs chronologically. A javelin thrower’s “progression” often includes peaks, valleys, and mysteriously missing years. Sarah’s is no exception.

She graduated high school in 2015 with a PB of 41.72. During her second season at the University of Kentucky, she reached 53.12m. Her SB in 2018 dropped to 44.08m, then jumped up to 52.73m in 2019 after she’d transferred to Mississippi State. Covid knocked out her 2020 season, injury her 2022 season, and she finished 2023 with an SB of 48.22m. Finally, in 2024 she produced her first PB in seven years, a 57.63m effort at the American JavFest.

Such is the life of the javelin thrower, one that Sarah admits you have to be “a little crazy” to embrace.

“Sometimes,” she said when we spoke
last fall, “we go years without having a
personal best. Then, out of nowhere
something connects.“

“I guess it’s because the jav is so technical. You can do one thing right, then the next throw you do something else right but lose whatever you’d just done well.”

And then there are the injuries.

“The javelin is so violent,” she says, “that you can literally injure anything in your body.” Sarah herself has had surgery once on her shoulder and twice on her elbow. A training partner recently tore his Achilles.

One reason she has been able to compete post-collegiately is that her job as a physical therapy tech provides Sarah with access to free treatment.

Another is her friendship with Curtis Thompson.

Curtis was competing for Mississippi State when Sarah arrived, and they’ve trained together ever since. As fellow Bulldogs, they were mentored by April Thomas. Later, both worked under Tom Pukstys. Now, they coach, support, and cheer vociferously for each other.

“Curtis,” she says, “is one of the most supportive people to me. For the past two years, he kept me throwing even when I doubted myself.”

In 2025, Thomson sat ringside while Sarah took third at the US Championships. It was a perfect javelin moment, featuring triumph and mayhem.

Blake was sitting in fifth place after four attempts when Thompson told her she needed to carry more speed into her next throw and suggested she do a practice runup off to the side. When Sarah picked up her tempo on that practice run, she caught a spike in the track surface and bit the dust. Hard.

The announcer had shushed the crowd at that end of the field prior to the start of an 800 heat, and Blake says that “everyone could hear it when I smacked the ground.”

It was, she recalls, “one of the most embarrassing things that could happen.”

Also one of the most painful, as she broke her left wrist.

Such an injury might have ended the comp for a normal athlete, but javelin throwers are made of stern stuff.

Instead of withdrawing, Sarah got up and
threw a season’s best 55.80m.

Afterwards, she informed Curtis that the broken wrist was all his fault.

“Well,” he replied. “At least you ran faster.”

Earlier that day, Thompson had snagged his fifth US title. Six weeks later, he took the bronze medal in Tokyo, a development which shocked just about everyone except Blake, who for several months had witnessed a new level of consistency from her training partner.

“Curt,” she recalls, “was hammering out 80-meter training throws even from a short approach, so we realized early on that something really good was going to come out of this year. When he PB’d in his first meet, it matched up with how he’d been doing in practice.”

Blake says the consistency in training gave Thompson the confidence he needed to finally reach the podium at an international championships and to, in her words, “write history for US jav throwing.”

Thompson’s story will have a new chapter in 2026, as will Blake’s. Both will continue training and competing while working to support themselves. Eventually, Sarah says she’ll hang up the spikes and work as a strength coach, ideally for an NFL team. “I, look forward,” she says, “to being the person having a ball yelling at the men telling them to lift.” 

Some favorite photos

Recently, my friend Priit Tänava, king of stats, asked me to rank a list of ten men’s discus throwers in worst-to-best order.

I happily agreed, but it turns out that comparing great athletes from different eras is complicated! Consider the sport of baseball. Ted Williams, the fantastic Boston Red Sox player from the 1940’s and 1950’s finished his career with 521 home runs, which today has him tied for 20th on the all time list—great, but not that great. Based on his home run total, it’s hard to imagine Williams making a list of baseball’s top ten power hitters of all time, right?

But a case can be made that Williams was a much better slugger than guys who hit 100 or even 200 more home runs than him. Consider:

• Williams missed nearly five full seasons of his prime while serving in WWII and the Korean War.

• He played in an era when hitting was much more difficult because pitchers had advantages that they no longer enjoy—a higher mound, for example. Pitchers also possessed the unacknowledged but often exercised right to zing a fastball at a batter’s unprotected head to keep him from getting too comfortable at the plate, a tactic which would get them ejected and possibly suspended today.

• Steroids were not available during Williams’ career, so we can assume he notched his dingers without help from performance-enhancing drugs.

Based on these factors, some would rank Ted Williams as one of the greatest power hitters ever, maybe even in the top five all time.

Another argument could be made, though, that Williams does not belong on anyone’s top ten list because hitting was actually easier in his day. Consider:

• When Williams began his career in 1939, baseball was exclusively a white man’s sport. The color barrier was not broken until 1947, and it wasn’t until 1959 that every team finally integrated. Surely there were great black and Latino pitchers that he never had to face because of this racist policy.

• It used to be quite common for a starting pitcher to stay in the game for an entire nine innings. This meant they had to pace themselves and could not throw the ball nearly as hard as pitchers routinely do in the modern era where teams typically use four or five different pitchers each game.

All these factors make it difficult to pinpoint exactly where athletes from different eras rank in relation to each other.

That said, here’s how I’d order the list of discus studs Priit sent me:

10. Ludvik Danek

• PB 67.18m in 1974
• Olympic champ in 1972 after taking silver in ’64 and bronze in ’68
• World Record holder
• Two-time European Championships medalist (’71 gold and ’74 silver)

9. Adolfo Consolini

• PB 55.33m in 1948
• Olympic champ in 1948, silver in ’52
• World Record holder
• Three-time European Championships gold medalist (’46, ’50, ’54)

To me, Danek’s Olympic gold is more impressive because it came at the beginning of the modern professional era, but I have to give Adolfo his due for winning three European golds, which is as many as Gerd Kanter, Lars Riedel, Jurgen Schult, and Virgilijus Alekna won combined!

8. Al Oerter

• PB 69.46m in 1980
• Olympic champ in 1956, ’60, ’64, ’68
• World Record holder

Oerter was legendary for his ability to bring the heat when it counted. He famously won Olympic gold with torn rib cartilage in ’64 and tossed an Olympic Record in a rain storm to take his final gold in ’68. His four Olympic titles will never be matched.

So, why not rank him number one?

For most of Al’s career, the sport was not nearly as professional as it is today, and he did not have to put his body through what modern throwers must to remain competitive. That’s why throwers so rarely repeat as Olympic champions. Robert Harting was as tough a competitor as Oerter, but two years after taking gold at the London Olympics, he blew out his ACL during an active recovery session as he began training for 2015. Harting recovered in time to make a run at repeating in Rio, but was foiled when he wrenched his back the night before qualification while bending over to turn off a light. That’s the kind of stuff that happens when you push your body to the limit, which is what it takes to win in the modern era.

7. Jurgen Schult

• PB 74.08m in 1986
• Olympic champ in 1988, silver in ’92
• World champ in 1987, silver in ’99, bronze in ’93 and ’97
• European champ in 1990, silver in ’98, bronze in ’94
• World Record holder from 1986 to 2024
• Nine total medals at international championships

Jurgen is famous for holding the World Record for nearly 40 years, but the true measure of his greatness was the success he attained at international championships after switching to non-reverse throwing so he could be more consistent under pressure. He also made an impact on the sport by serving as a German national coach.

6. Robert Harting

• PB 70.66m in 2012
• Olympic gold in 2012
• World champ in ’09, ’11, ’13, silver in ’07
• European champ in ’12 and ’14, silver in ’10
• Eight total medals in international championships

Like Al Oerter, Robert was tough in the big competitions, winning on his final throw in Berlin 2009 and winning in spite of an injury in Moscow 2013. Handsome and charismatic, he made discus throwing look sexy and a little bit dangerous. If you’ve seen the video of the ’09 final and have never tried to rip your shirt off after a big throw or making a three-pointer in a pickup basketball game…I simply do not understand you.

Trash me if you must for putting him ahead of Jurgen and Al Oerter, but… watch the video!

5. Mac Wilkins

• PB 70.98m in 1980
• Olympic champ in ’76, silver in ’84

Even though Danek won three Olympic medals to Mac’s two, I’m putting Mac ahead of him due to his huge influence on the sport of discus throwing. Mac has inspired and mentored countless coaches and athletes over the years including Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, who ended up developing two of the guys ahead of Mac on my list. That’s why I put him above Robert, Jurgen, and Al Oerter. Also, he totally got the shaft with the 1980 Olympic boycott when he would have been a clear favorite to repeat as gold-medalist.

4. Gerd Kanter

• PB 73.38m in 2006
• Olympic champ in 2008, bronze in ’12
• World champ in 2007, silver in ’05 and ’11, bronze in ’09 and ’13
• Eleven total medals in international championships

Gerd competed during an immensely competitive era during which he had to contend with one Alekna, two Hartings, and a Malachowski. In spite of this, he took eleven international championships medals, the most for any male discus thrower.

That’s reason enough to rank him this high, but I also give him huge props for what he meant to his home country of Estonia. Winning international medals is never easy, but try doing it while carrying the hopes of an entire nation on your back.

If you’d like to read about Gerd’s amazing career, check out our book, Gerd Kanter: Five Championship Moments on Amazon!

3. Lars Riedel

• PB 71.50m in 1997
• Olympic champ in 1996, silver in ’00
• World champ in 1991, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’01, bronze in ’99
• European champ in 1998
• Nine medals at international championships

I’ll admit that my emphasis on total number of international medals is not fair to guys like Mac and Oerter whose only chance to accumulate hardware came at the Olympics, but can we ignore those five World titles won by Lars?

No, we cannot.

Also, like Robert and Mac, Lars was a charismatic presence in the sport. Unfortunately for the ladies, he usually kept his shirt on, but watching him celebrate big throws and agonize over lousy ones was great theater.

2. Virgilijus Alekna

• PB 73.88m in 2000
• Olympic champ in 2000 and ’04, bronze in ’08
• World champ in 2003 and ’05, silver in ’97 and ’01
• European champ in 2006, silver in ’02, bronze in ’98
• Ten medals at international championships

Virgilijus gets big points for unseating Lars as discus Übermensch and dominating the sport between 2000 and 2007 when Gerd finally took over. A model of consistency (he won 38 of his 39 comps between 2005 and 2006) and class, Virgilijus—like Gerd—gave his countrymen something to cheer for as they recovered from a grim half century of Soviet occupation.

As a side note, Virgilijus was the first thrower I know of to travel with his own physiotherapist, a very small dude who the other throwers referred to as “the mechanic.” With the help of that physio, Virgilijus not only dominated the sport but also had enough energy left over to sire the future World Record holder.

1. Daniel Ståhl

• PB 71.86m in 2019
• Olympic champion in 2021
• World Champion in 2019, ’23, and ’25, silver in ’17
• Six total medals at international championships

Go ahead and accuse me of recency bias, but my choice of Daniel as numero uno is more nuanced.

As you’ll see below, I’ve worked with Vésteinn Hafsteinsson on two books about Daniel, so I have a pretty good understanding of what it took for him to reach the top of the sport, and that knowledge has informed my decision.

Clearly, Daniel was born with immense physical talent.

This list is full of large, athletic dudes,
but none of them can match Daniel’s
combination of size, strength, and
smoothness in the ring.

Based on that, you might wonder why Daniel hasn’t been even more dominant in his career. Six medals in international championships is a great accomplishment, but at Daniel’s age—he turned 33 last summer—it doesn’t seem likely he’ll reach Gerd’s record of eleven. Daniel has also never won a European Championship. At the past two Europeans, in ’22 and ’24, he did not even medal. Nor did he reach the podium at the ’22 Worlds or ’24 Olympics, making him and Robert Harting the only guys on this list without multiple Olympic medals.

What’s so great about him, then?

For much of his career, Daniel was conflicted, tormented even, about living the life of a sports hero.

Daniel did not grow up wanting to be a famous athlete. Aside from his exceptional size, he was a regular kid who loved hanging out with his family and playing ice hockey with his friends. His parents had been throwers, and he picked up the shot and disc as a kid, but he did not train seriously until he was nineteen and Vésteinn Hafsteinsson took him into his group, which at the time included Gerd Kanter.

Training under Vésteinn and around Gerd gave Daniel his first glimpse of the sacrifices and level of commitment it would take to be an Olympic champion.

During the decade it took for Gerd to rise to the top of the sport, pretty much every choice he made was based on the calculus of whether or not it would help him achieve his goal of some day winning a gold medal. As a result, he led a boring life. Get up in the morning, eat and go to training. Come home, eat and rest, then back to training. Come home, eat and sleep, then tomorrow back to training.

Vésteinn remembers one time in ten years that Gerd asked to miss a session, and that was late in his career when they were at a training camp in California and someone offered Gerd—a huge basketball fan—tickets to see his first NBA game.

In a way, it was a dream scenario to have Daniel learn the habits of a champion by training alongside Gerd. The problem was that Daniel was not suited to the life of a discus monk. He hated being bored and felt terribly homesick for his family and friends while training with Vésteinn’s group in the small town of Växjö where he knew nobody and had nothing to do but lift and throw.

The situation became infinitely worse when Daniel got good.

Sweden had not suffered under the Soviet boot as had Estonia and Lithuania, but folks there were still hungry for native-grown sports champions, and when Daniel threw a world-leading 66.89m in May of 2014, he became an instant celebrity. He was recognized wherever he went and people made it quite clear that they expected him to win medals. Gold medals. Lots of them.

This put Daniel in a difficult situation. After a few years of training with Vésteinn, he understood what kind of life he’d have to lead if he was going to live up to people’s expectations. But he’d tried that life and it made him miserable. At times, he considered quitting the sport and going back to live quietly among family and friends, but how could he do that now that he’d been “outed” as a potential champion? What would people say about him then?

The four years after his breakthrough throw in 2014 were extremely tough on Daniel, on Vésteinn, and on the many people around Daniel who cared about him as more than just a discus thrower.

Then, when he finally found some equilibrium and became World Champion in 2019, the pandemic hit and threatened to deny him the chance to win Olympic gold in 2020.

Daniel overcame that, winning at Tokyo in ’21, but the following summer brought two potentially cataclysmic changes. First, Vésteinn retired from coaching. Life on the road, and the effort required to guide his group to their historic performance at the 2021 Games had finally exhausted him, and suddenly Daniel faced the prospect of continuing his career without his most important ally.

As if that were not enough, Kristjan Čeh and Mykolas Alekna burst onto the scene that summer and defeated Daniel at the ‘22 World and European Championships.

I’m not privy to Daniel’s private thoughts at that time, but he had to have been dismayed by the possibility that no matter how hard he worked going forward he’d spend the rest of his career fighting for bronze medals while regularly getting his ass kicked by two young whippersnappers.

That had to be an unpleasant prospect for a guy who’d always been haunted by the fear of disappointing his fans.

But instead of folding, Daniel came out swinging in ’23.

He and his new coach, Staffan Jönsson, clicked right away and Daniel rolled into the 2023 Worlds having put together a magnificent season. His fourth-round toss of 69.37m had him in the lead until Čeh popped a 70.02m on his final attempt. As the frontrunner going into round six, Daniel had last ups, and he responded to Čeh by launching a monster 71.46m toss that was arguably the greatest clutch throw in any international championships.

Until this past summer.

If you’re reading this piece, you’ve probably seen the video of the final in Tokyo. And you’ve probably participated in a debate regarding the conditions, the facilities, etc…

But the fact that grizzled veterans like Matty Denny and Andrius Gudžius, tough, skilled dudes, couldn’t manage to stay upright in the ring is evidence enough that this was an historically bad situation.

That’s why I’d call Daniel’s sixth-round SB 70.47m the absolute greatest clutch throw in discus history.

In no previous era of the sport has it been harder to win medals at international championships than it is right now. Daniel has overcome tremendous obstacles both internal and external to show that he’s the best thrower of the best era, and that’s enough for me to rank him first all time.

For a detailed look at how Daniel trained under his first coach, Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, check out Training for Goldon Amazon.

If you’d like to read more about the inspiring story of Daniel’s career, order Gold, the Olympic Journey of Daniel Ståhl and Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, also on Amazon.

I read a really interesting article in the New York Times the other day. It described the efforts of US skiers to raise money for training and travel expenses through crowdfunding sites.

Here is the link to that article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/sports/facing-uphill-struggle-for-sponsors-us-skiers-lead-a-crowdfunding-trend.html?ref=sports&_r=0

I know nothing about the sport of skiing other than the fact that Lindsey Vonn is dating Tiger Woods (thank you People Magazine), but the article made me wonder if American throwers were also using crowdfunding to help with expenses.

Turns out that at least one is, and I know her.

She is Brittany Smith, the recent Illinois State University graduate and NCAA All-American in the shot put and hammer throw.

I met Brittany a few years ago when one of my former throwers was her teammate at Illinois State. She is a really nice person and a very talented young thrower.

Funny story. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from my brother-in-law Larry who lives in Germany and has made possible most of my sojourns across the pond to see world class track meets. Larry owns some rental property in Tuscon, Arizona, and he had received an inquiry from a young lady named Brittany Smith who wanted to rent one of his places next winter. Apparently, she was a thrower and wanted to train in Arizona as part of her effort to make the 2016 Olympic team.

I was happy to vouch for the fact that Brittany was indeed a thrower and that, aside from her rather odd taste in men (more on that in a moment) seemed like a completely trustworthy person.  Larry was happy to play a role in helping an aspiring Olympian, and so the deal was done.

Funny story. Larry ran distance for DIII powerhouse North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.  My friend Sean Denard was, from 2012 until a couple of months ago, the throws coach at North Central. Sean recently took over the throws position at Grand Valley State. He is also the boyfriend of…Brittany Smith.

Anyway, Larry had mentioned that Brittany was using a crowdfunding site to raise some cash, a fact that I was reminded of while reading the New York Times story. Here is the link to  her page on the gofundme site:

http://www.gofundme.com/ckgykk

Thinking about Brittany and her efforts to stay in the sport long enough to reach her prime (she is currently 23 years old) made me think about my conversation with the German coach Torsten Schmidt last month.

I am by no means an expert in the German system, but from what I can tell it works like this:

Typical schools in Germany do not field sports teams. Most communities, however, have sports clubs. These clubs are coached by volunteer and part-time trainers. If a young athlete shows significant potential, they might be invited to attend a special “sports school” starting (I think) at the age of 16.

There, they will receive expert coaching.

If an athlete continues to flourish in his or her sport, they may be offered the opportunity to remain in the government-sponsored sports system, often by joining a special arm of the police.  Christoph Harting, one of the discus throwers who trains with Torsten, talks about that in the following interview:

Christoph’s position with the police allows him, at the age of 24, to train full time from January through September at an excellent facility in Berlin (it has 8 discus rings) under the care of one of the best coaches in the world. He shares that coach with only two other athletes: his brother Robert, and Julia Fischer.  He does not have to worry about training or travel expenses.

Compare that with Brittany’s situation. At the age of 23, she currently works part time at Illinois State and is on her own in arranging and paying for coaching, travel, and other training expenses. If that situation becomes unmanageable, she will be forced to consider retiring from her sport.

Which of them do you think has the better chance of reaching their potential as a thrower?

You have to wonder if the German system of supporting their athletes is the key to their consistent excellence in the throws.

Interestingly, Robert Harting recently made some disparaging comments about athlete support in Germany in an interview with Throwholics:

http://throwholics.com/2014/12/2015-off-season-training-with-robert-harting/

As far as I can tell, Robert seems to be suggesting that getting a degree while training in the German system is a bigger challenge than it should be.

That’s one thing Brittany has going for her. She has her degree from ISU. Now, for her and for many other post-collegiate throwers, the challenge is to stay in the sport long enough to reach its highest level.

 “There are 20 million runners in this country. I don’t think there are 20 million track fans.”       

                  –Vin Lananna, Head Track Coach, University of Oregon

Okay, if you love the sport of track and field, that’s a problem. Luckily, people like Milan Donley, Meet Director of the Kansas Relays, have been working overtime to convert some of those non-track fans. For the past three years, the Kansas Relays has held a world class shot put competition in downtown Lawrence. Milan got the idea from street meets held in Europe, and the concept has transferred quite nicely to the American heartland.  Throwers love it. Spectators love it. And the businesses in downtown Lawrence who report a 40% increase in sales on those competition days really, really love it.

Milan, who would like to see other communities adopt the street meet concept, was kind enough to share with me the nuts and bolts of hosting one of these competitions.

The Concept 

In order to lure spectators and grow interest in the sport, Milan is determined each year to put on an entertaining “show.”  That means putting together a world class field (more on that later) and adding a few “extras” such as the KU cheerleaders, t-shirt tosses, a post-competition meet and greet with the athletes, a sound system, and a beer garden.

I know, I know. I had you at “KU cheerleaders.”

The competition  consists of one flight of top-notch throwers taking six throws apiece. In order to accentuate the drama, the flight is re-ordered after the third and fifth rounds. Throwers get to choose the music they want to hear as they enter the ring, and are encouraged to “play to the crowd.”  Milan seems quite pleased with the fact that Christian Cantwell (as a University of Missouri alum) is booed heartily by the pro-Jayhawk locals.

The way that attendance has increased (1,500 in year one to 3,500 this year) would seem to indicate that Milan has accomplished his mission of showing people a good time.

The Setup

 A local quarry donates 400 cubic yards of crushed limestone for the landing area (which is in turn donated to the city of Lawrence). Since the street is not perfectly level, the thickness of the landing area varies from approximately 6 inches just in front of the ring to 3 feet at the opposite end of the sector (approximately 85 feet away).

The ring itself is set in a portable 10′ by 10′ concrete slab built according to specs that Milan obtained from the folks who run the shot competition in the Zurich train station.

Stopboards are placed at the end of the landing area, and barriers and bleachers are set up along the sides to keep spectators safe and comfortable.

Add in a couple of tents to shelter the athletes, a beer garden run by a local establishment and you have everything you need for a great competition.

The city of Lawrence donates the labor necessary for the setup and takedown. Setup begins at 6:00am and takes 5-8 hours. The competition is held at 6:00pm, and the city begins removing the limestone at midnight. By 6:00am the cleanup is done.

Here are a some views of the competition area:

The Budget

The cost of holding the Kansas Relays shot in downtown Lawrence is $50,000. Part of that money is accumulated through donations from local businesses such as restaurants and banks, and part ($20,000) comes out of the Kansas Relays budget.

The majority of that $50,000 is devoted to putting together a world class field of putters. The very best shotputters in the world can command an appearance fee of $7,500 to $9,000. Less accomplished throwers may settle for $2,500 or less. Each is given $300.00 for travel as well as a per diem and hotel accomodations. The prize money is $1,000 for first place, $750.00 for second, and $500.00 for third.

I feel the need to digress here for a second because I don’t want people who are unfamiliar with the sport to get the wrong idea.

 As is often the case, the money paid to athletes may seem like a lot to us average Joes. Nine thousand dollars for one day’s work? Sounds pretty sweet. But paydays for shotputters are few and far between. The best of the best (recent World and Olympic champions) might get invited to a handful of decent-paying meets per season, and might quickly find themselves uninvited if their performance slips a bit.  Opportunities are even more scarce for those who have not quite achieved “best of the best” status. I recently spoke with a 21-meter putter who has never made a World Championship or Olympic team  and now, at the age of 30, is facing the liklihood of having to retire due to financial considerations. There just aren’t enough paying meets out there to allow him to make a living.

And that’s not good for our sport. As Gia Lewis-Smallwood has recently demonstrated, some throwers do not find their groove until long after they’ve left the security of the college environment. For the United States to field its best team at the Olympics and World Championships, we’ve got to give developing athletes a chance to make some money.

The great thing about street meets is that they help fill that need while also expanding track and field’s fan base.

Anyhow, Milan asks that each thrower arrive the day before the competition so that they may attend a dinner with local doners, and that they stick around after the event to pose for pictures and interact with the spectators, and he says the athletes have been great about doing just that.

I have spoken to two putters who participated in this year’s Kansas Relays street competition, Cory Martin and Justin Rodhe, and they both greatly enjoyed the experience. Milan said that the throwers he has come to know would like nothing better than to have a series of street meets held each summer in the USA. So, if you decide to host one of these competitions, you will be dealing with motivated, personable athletes who will do everything they can to make your event a success.

I would advise anyone who is considering putting on a street meet to contact Milan. He is a great guy and very happy to share his expertise.

My last post examined the prospects of US men making the finals and/or medaling next year in Beijing and the following year in Rio.

Now, let’s consider the ladies.

The Discus

Moscow Results:

8th:62.80m  Bronze: 64.96m  Silver: 66.28m  Gold: 67.99m

Sacramento Results:

3rd:  Shelbi Vaughan 59.75m

2nd: Liz Podominick 59.96m

1st: Gia Lewis-Smallwood 65.96m

Gia’s career seemed dead in the water just a couple of years ago, but she pulled off a rare trick for an American thrower: she found a way to stay in the sport long enough to find her groove.  She finished fifth in Moscow, and has shown the ability to throw 64-65 meters overseas in stadiums.  She is also, to my knowledge, the only thrower to defeat Sandra Perkovic in the past two years. (Fun Fact: over 600 people have climbed Mt. Everest in that time).  The big question is, can Gia at thirty-five years of age hold off the ravages of time long enough to get on the podium in Beijing and Rio?  If she does, it will be a great, great moment for American throwing.

(This just in! As I am about to post this article, Gia has thrown 65.59m to take third at the Paris DL meet)

Another question: Can 2008 Olympic champ Stephanie Brown Trafton come all the way back from taking time off to have a baby? She had to be encouraged by her performance in Sacramento (58.84m), but she and Gia are about the same age, so…

A final question: What about the youngsters? Shelbi Vaughan is a special athlete, but she cannot be expected to throw bombs overseas in August after enduring the rigors of the NCAA season, especially if she continues playing volleyball. Whitney Ashley (fifth in Sacramento at 58.68m) is another gifted athlete waiting in the wings. (Fun Fact: At the 2013 Adidas Grand Prix meet, Perkovic’s coach told me that he thought Ashley had a lot of potential but that she should reverse instead of using a fixed-feet finish).

Outlook: In my dream scenario (the one that does not involve Angelina Jolie) Gia and Stephanie both elbow their way onto the podium next to Perkovic in Beijing or Rio.

The Javelin 

Moscow Results:

8th: 61.30m  Bronze: 65.09m  Silver:66.60m  Gold: 69.05m

Sacramento Results:

3rd: Leigh Petranoff  57.80m

2nd: Brittany Borman 62.05

1st: Kara Patterson 62.43m

 Does anyone else view the javelin as a fickle event?  Three weeks ago in New York, I watched the Australian javeliner Kathryn Mitchell throw 66.02m easy as pie and Linda Stahl (a German) throw 67.32m easy as strudel. Then, earlier this week at the Lausanne DL meeting, they went 58.23m and 63.20m respectively.

Outlook: Given the “on any given day” nature of the event, it is entirely possible that Borman or Patterson could make the final in Beijing and/or Rio. A medal, though, is unlikely. Their best route to the podium at a major international meet is to pull a Gia and stay in the sport into their thirties (Mitchell, by the way, is having her best season at the age of thirty-one).

The Shot Put 

Moscow Results:

8th: 18.09m  Bronze: 19.95m Silver:20.41m  Gold: 20.88m

Sacramento Results:

3rd: Tia Brooks 18.83m

2nd: Felisha Johnson 19.18m

1st: Michelle Carter 19.45m

Loads of potential among this threesome of young gliders, two of whom have already garnered significant international experience. Tia was 8th in Moscow, Michelle missed the bronze by a centimeter.

Outlook: There is no reason the US should not have two shot finalists in Beijing and Rio. And after that?  Valerie Adams is only twenty-nine, but the Herculean effort behind her seemingly effortless domination of the sport (two Olympic, three Indoor World and four Outdoor World golds since 2007) has left her contemplating retirement after 2016. Carter, who threw an American record 20.24m last season, is only a year younger than Val, but seems to be just coming into her own. If she can hang in there for another Olympic cycle after Rio, she might be able to contend for that rather large open space at the top of major championship podiums.

The Hammer

Moscow Results:

8th: 72.70m  Bronze: 75.58m  Silver: 78.46m  Gold: 78.80m

Sacramento Results:

3rd: Amber Campbell 71.35m 

2nd: Jessica Cosby Toruga 71.72m

1st: Amanda Bingson 75.07m 

In the past two seasons, three American women (Bingson, Cosby Toruga, and Jeneva McCall) have thrown 74 meters or better. Cosby Toruga is thirty-two, but both McCall and Bingson are just two years out of college.  Same for Gwen Berry, who threw 73.81m last year.

Outlook: For Beijing and Rio, getting two in the top eight is certainly attainable. Beyond that, one or more of the Bingson/McCall/Berry trio needs to get her PB into the 77-78 meter range to increase the odds of hitting a medal-winning 76m in a major championship.