One of history’s great discus throwers, Gerd Kanter was also a hell of a coach, guiding Kristjan Čeh to World Championship gold in ’22 and silver in ’23. Once a month, he will analyze a different phase of his technique for readers of McThrows.
As I explained earlier, it was very important for me to stay balanced and level during my windup, with no shifting of my weight and no leaning forward or backward. Now, in this photo, I am trying to maintain that balance and posture as I begin the throw.
One cue I used was to keep
my right heel on the ground as long
as possible.
That way, I could keep both of my hips loaded as I began turning to the left to set up for the sprint across the ring. Early in my career, I had a tendency to shift my weight too much to the left during this moment, which caused my left hip to “break” or collapse as I began my right leg sweep. The breaking of the left hip made it impossible to achieve a balanced entry, so we worked hard to correct it. Keeping both hips strong and loaded as long as possible allowed the right side of my body to travel out and around my left side on balance, as you will see in the upcoming frames.
Another important cue for me at this point in the throw was to keep my left arm calm and passive. As you can see, my left foot and leg are ahead of my left arm as I begin to open my left side. When I started out, I often used my left arm aggressively to try to create momentum at this phase of the throw, which aggravated my tendency to “break” my left hip.
We spent a lot of time working on this part of the throw, because if you give up your balance here, it is game over. You cannot regain it and the throw will be wasted.
Next month, Gerd will examine the next step to setting up a successful entry. In the meantime, check out his book, Gerd Kanter: Five Championship Moments to learn more about his fantastic career.
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