Maggie Ewen is one of the greatest putters the United States has produced.
World class putter Maggie Ewen will be filing monthly reports as she travels the world plying her trade. In this piece, Maggie reflects on her journey from beginner to NCAA and US champion under the tutelage of some outstanding coaches.
As is common in the US, Maggie was introduced to putting by her father and her high school coach. Bruce Ewen in on the left. Mark Hanson is on the right.
Since this is the first week of discussing my throw, I wanted to briefly elaborate on my journey into the athlete I am today.
My first coach was my father.
That began in middle school when my sister joined the track team. Like any little sister, I wanted to be just like my older sister. So, when my father offered to help coach her in the discus, I always tagged along. She eventually switched her focus to the track, but I was hooked.
My father and I continued to train every chance we got. That wasn’t because my dad was a strict coach. I simply always wanted to be throwing. He made sure to keep practices fun and to really foster my love for the sport. We primarily focused on big concepts (not detail work) and really dialing in the fundamentals.
In seventh grade, I made the varsity team. My dad was still my primary coach, but my high-school coach, Mark Hanson, also played a big role in my development at the time. He was immensely supportive and understanding of the dynamic between my father and I, which, unfortunately, I’ve since learned can be a rare situation. Too many people let their egos get in the way instead of doing what’s best for the athlete. My father and Hanson never had that problem. They often worked in unison to assure I was given the guidance and support I needed.
Before I left for college, my dad gave me a piece of advice that would shape my entire college career.
He said (and I paraphrase) “Dumble is your coach now. His word is law. If he tells you something that contradicts what I taught you, he is right and I am wrong. You have to fully commit to his style.” With that, I left for Arizona State to work with my new coach, David Dumble.
Dave Dumble introduced Maggie to the world of NCAA throwing.
Dumble regularly redshirted his freshman in order to allow them a full year to adapt to his approach and the college system as a whole. I was no exception. In that time of immense change, Dumble was the best coach I could have asked for. His immense positivity and passion for the throws helped me settle into the next chapter of my development.
Over the next three years, Dumble built up my shot put and discus and taught me how to throw the hammer. This is also the time that I learned about the importance of the weight room and of taking care of my body in the training room. Overall, I think my time with Dumble opened my eyes to how to be an elite athlete inside and outside of the ring.
Brian Blutreich took over after Dave Dumble at ASU. Adapting to his style was a challenging and ultimately successful process for Maggie.
With two competitive years remaining in my college career, Dumble left for Oregon State. I was given the opportunity to transfer but the head Coach of the time, Gregory Kraft, assured me I’d like who they were bringing in. I put my faith in him, and Brian Blutreich became my coach. When this happened I was reminded of my father’s advice. I appreciated everything I’d learned from Dumble, but now Blutreich’s word is law.
It was a huge learning curve, and we had no time to waste. Blutreich’s coaching style was much more straightforward and intense than what I had known with my father or Dumble. He set high standards for himself and his athletes. At the time, this was exactly what I needed. A no-nonsense coach who pushed me to keep raising my own standards and setting higher goals. While he continued to improve my shot, discus and hammer techniques, he also helped me to grow mentally and emotionally within the sport.
Blutreich taught me about mindset at practice vs competition, dealing with nerves, and handling pressure.
It’s undeniable that I learned a lot in the ring. However, I don’t feel like I’d be the same athlete today without the mental strength he helped me develop.
Kyle Long has guided Maggie’s career since 2019.
Once I graduated college, I began working with Kyle Long, who was Blutreich’s assistant coach. This was primarily because as a college coach, the collegiates were Blutreich’s priority. I did not fault him for that. He had a couple of massive talents like Sam Noennig and Turner Washington at the time. So his hands were definitely full. As the assistant coach, Kyle taught the same technique while having the time and flexibility to work with me more consistently.
Our dynamic has changed over the seven years we’ve worked together. Initially, while I still had a lot to learn, we functioned in a standard coach/athlete dynamic. He told me what to do, and I did it. Over time, we have transitioned into a more collaborative coach/athlete dynamic. He respects my opinions and suggestions as much as I respect his knowledge and guidance.
Looking back, I don’t believe I would have changed my journey at all.
Each coach gave me what I needed at the time I needed it. My dad instilled me with a love for the sport and excellent fundamentals. David Dumble enlightened me to all that goes on outside of the ring that is necessary to being an elite athlete. Brian Blutreich improved my technical knowledge while simultaneously improving my mental strength. Kyle Long continues to guide and support me during my professional career. Their combined guidance built me into the athlete I am today, and I am forever grateful.
The 2026 A-Z Clinic, presented by Throw Big Throw Far Chicago will take place at Wheaton North High School in the suburbs of Chicago on Sunday, January 25th from 9am to 1pm. Small group instruction will be offered in discus and shot put technique.
The A-Z is a great opportunity for athletes to receive instruction from top area coaches in a small group, learn-by-doing environment.
Coaches are also encouraged to sign up and attend to observe and film their athletes as they go through drills and take throws with indoor shots and discus training balls.
The cost of the clinic is $75 for those paying in advance, $100 at the door. Follow the QR code on the photo below to register.
If you enjoy roller coasters, I encourage you to check out Laulauga Tausaga’s career stats on her World Athletics profile page. Let’s start with 2019 when she made a huge breakthrough by winning the NCAA title, a huger breakthrough by making the US team for the Doha Worlds, a monumental breakthrough by throwing a 63.94m PB in qualifying there…and then fouled all three throws in the final. In 2021, she finished second at the NCAA…but did not record a mark at the Olympic Trials. In 2022, she threw 64.49m at the US Championships to finish second and qualify for the Worlds in Eugene where she once again advanced to the final…only to go 56.47m, 55.93m, foul, and finish twelfth. The following year, she made the final at the Worlds in Budapest…then threw a 4-meter PB and won the damn thing! Last season, after opening with a solid 65.38m in April, she struggled most of the summer and had another disastrous Olympic Trials where, as in 2021, she did not record a mark.
Last weekend, Lagi began her 2025 campaign with a solid 62.85m for the win at the Florida relays. This week, she will appear for the first time at the Throw Town World Invitational in Ramona, Oklahoma, where Joe Frontier and I will serve as commentators on a broadcast produced by the fine folks at Throws University. In this interview, she reflects back on a difficult 2024 season and expresses optimism about finally finding the consistency she has worked so hard to achieve.
It had to be tough on you to struggle last year after having such an epic 2023 season.
After 2023, a lot of people were looking for me to do something amazing last year, but I was just craving consistency. I knew those big throws at Worlds and in the Diamond League final were outliers. Not that I wouldn’t be able to reach those distances again, but what I really wanted was to put together a season where I was always hitting 62 to 64 meters no matter what. But a lot of things changed last year. My coach, John Dagata ended up moving to the Bay area while I stayed in San Diego and did a lot of training on my own. Both of us were very busy and it was sometimes difficult to set up sessions where he could coach me over Facetime. I would go to him for training camps, and we did our best, but after a while I had to face the fact that it wasn’t working.
After the two meets in April in China (Note: Lagi went 60.61m to finish tenth at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting, then no-marked a week later in Suzhou), I was like, “We are in crisis mode.”
My training was going better later in the summer, but I still wasn’t consistent. I knew I could make the team for Paris, but the other girls got it done that day and I didn’t. Missing out on the Olympics put me in a position to look at my career and say, “Do we want to do this again? Do we want to go through another season of craving consistency and not finding it?” There had to be a better way to move forward.
And that’s when you started thinking about making some changes?
After the Olympic Trials, I decided to end my season. Someone told me at the time that it was a stupid move, but how was that stupid if I wasn’t feeling right physically or mentally? No amount of, “You got this!” was going to make it better, so I took six weeks off, sat down and was like “Alright, this was the second team you haven’t made. This was the third season in a row of trying to find consistency.”
I did some soul searching. I was craving the kind of consistency I had in college in 2019 when on my worst days I still usually threw 58 or 59 meters. Since then, I’d had too many meets where I was throwing like 55 meters. I took six weeks off, then told Dagata I was ready to get back on the horse, but there were things I needed to do to actually ride it and not let it take me wherever. I couldn’t afford to live in Oakland, and I wasn’t in an emotional state to drop everything and move anyway. Some athletes might have done it, but I’m an emotional thrower, and if I don’t feel comfortable it affects my training. I wanted to stay closer to home, and I told Dagata I wanted to bring on my high school coach Jorge Reyes, so I’d have someone to be here with me to bounce ideas off of and to give me immediate feedback. I realized that throwing was a social sport for me, and I thrived around other people. In 2024, I was alone for probably eighty percent of my training, and that just didn’t work. I had stayed close with Jorge through college and my pro years, and he was always easy to communicate with and good to bounce ideas off of. I did that with teammates in college. When the coach said something, I might ask the other throwers, “Do you understand what he’s saying?” I just always enjoyed training in a place where I had other people to interact with.
So it helped having Coach Reyes around, but I was also thinking back to my time at Iowa. I had three amazing years throwing for Eric Werskey, and we kept in touch after he took the job at Florida after the Olympic Trials in 2021.
After the 2024 season, I got to a point where I felt a little lost in the situation I was in, so I sat down with Coach Reyes and told him I was considering contacting Werskey and asking him to work with me again. I went back and forth on it and couldn’t make up my mind, and I must have been driving Coach Reyes crazy, because one day after practice he gave me an ultimatum. He looked at me and said, “You are going to call me tonight and tell me what you’re doing. You are going to make a decision and we are going to move on from there and never talk about this again.”
So that’s what I did. I went home and made my decision.
Which was?
I decided to ask Coach Werskey to take over my training. But first, I had to talk to Dagata. We won a medal together, and I respect him as a coach, but the situation just wasn’t working for me. So I told Dagata, then I had to reach out to Werskey. I guess I probably should have called him first, but…
Anyway, I called Werskey and at first I avoided asking him what I wanted to ask him. I was like, “How are you? How is everything at Florida?” Finally, I got around to it and asked if he’d be my coach for the 2025 season.
He said he would, so we set it up where I still work with Coach Reyes, but we send Eric videos right after practice and he gives me feedback every day as soon as he can. Maybe a text message. Maybe a voicemail in our coaching chat. “Hey, here is what I see…” Those quick responses and Eric and Coach Reyes’ ability to work together have made a big difference for me. Over the course of the last few months, I’ve seen so much growth. And I’ve been able to make it to Florida around once a month to work with him in person.
Are you excited to get a chance to compete at Throw Town?
Yes. I’ve never been there before, but I’m excited to see how I do in the wind. I know people freak out about “wind this” and “wind that,” but let’s be real. Isn’t that why we go to meets like Triton? I actually prefer less wind most of the time because if you have a strong wind and don’t find your rhythm it will eat you. But sometimes the wind can also show you what’s possible, like last year with Joe Brown and Veronica Fraley. They both threw well at Throw Town then ended up in the Olympics, so are you going to tell me those throws in Oklahoma weren’t real?
Because you won in 2023, you have a bye for this year’s Worlds, right?
I do have the bye for Tokyo, and it probably saved my career. It was crushing not to make it to the Olympics last year, and during those six weeks after the Trials I spent a lot of time contemplating whether or not I was done. But then I’d think, “Well, I have the bye, so I might as well keep going and see how much ass I can kick before I give it up.”
Note: The World Invitational will take place at Throw Town from April 10-13. Check out Throws University for a livestream featuring Joe Frontier and yours truly as commentators!
Rachel Dincoff at the 2021 Olympic Trials. Photo Courtesy of USATF.
In 2021, Rachel Dincoff came from nowhere–well, New Mexico anyway–to seize a spot on the US team for the Tokyo Olympics. She’d moved to America’s 36th most populous state three years earlier to work with Coach Doug Reynolds, and her sacrifice–New Mexico is home to 47 different types of snakes for god’s sake–had finally paid off. She followed that success by making the US team again in 2022, this time for the World Championships, and as she prepared for the 2023 season, Rachel had reason to believe that her dream of becoming one of the world’s top discus throwers might be coming true.
Then disaster struck. And re-struck. And struck again.
I’ll let Rachel tell the story, but suffice it to say that when she enters the ring next week at the World Invitational in Ramona, it will be a meaningful moment for her and for the sport to which she has given so much.
The last time I saw you was in Eugene for the 2022 Worlds. You finished your season a few weeks later at the ISTAF meet in Berlin, and have not competed since! What happened?
In early March of 2023, I was back in Florida where I live after doing a training camp with Doug in Kansas, where he coaches now. I’d been sick for a few days, and was still not feeling well when I got up for a Sunday morning workout. My intuition told me to take a rest day, but the athlete inside of me said, “No! You must work out!” I was doing a plyometric exercise and Boom! It felt like someone had thrown something and hit me in the back of the leg.
It’s hard to say with an injury like that if it happened in the moment or it had been building over time, but I knew right away it was serious. My boyfriend, Carl Lawson, was in the gym with me. He’s a pro football player and he’d torn his Achilles a couple of years earlier. He scooped me up, put me on a bench and did a Thompson test on my leg, and he could tell right away I’d torn mine. I was in surgery three days later.
That must have been devastating, with another World Championships coming up in 2023, and the Olympics in 2024.
I was actually pretty optimistic at first. Carl and I live in south Florida, which is a big football community, and we knew players who’d recovered from a torn Achilles in the space of a year. Carl had done it himself. He tore his Achilles in August of 2021, had to have two surgeries, and still made it back for the 2022, so I saw no reason why I couldn’t do the same thing and recover in time to compete for a spot in Paris.
But a couple of months into my recovery, I felt like I still didn’t have a strong connection down there. An Achilles tear takes time to heal, but even after five months of hard work, I wasn’t making progress, and I started to feel the clock winding down on my chances to get ready for 2024. It was the most stressed I’d ever been. I just couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting better. I’d had an uncomfortable experience with a medical professional who was pulling on my ankle at an early stage, something which I now know should not have been done. But I couldn’t say for sure if that caused a setback, or if I was just pushing too hard in rehab. Finally, I went back to Dr. O’Malley in New York, who had done my surgery. He examined me and saw that my Achilles needed to be repaired again!
The difficult conversation this time was whether he should take part of my hamstring to repair the Achilles or use tissue from a cadaver. Carl had done it with his hamstring, and using your own tissue is better in some ways, so that’s what I chose to do. But then I had an MRI in the morning before the second surgery, and it showed that the tendon wasn’t too badly torn, and they said they could probably fix it using the cadaver tissue, which would make for a shorter recovery period because I wouldn’t also be dealing with weakness in my hamstring. So that’s what we chose to do.
And then…?
Four months later I started showing signs that my body was rejecting the cadaver tissue.
So, in December of 2023, I had my third surgery. They took, I believe, seven inches of part of my hamstring and also a tendon from my foot and used that to repair my Achilles.
How were you able to keep it together through all that?
I did a pretty good job of staying positive and focusing on my goals, even after the third surgery. I kept telling myself that I could still make it back for the Olympic Trials, which I know was kind of crazy, but I needed something to keep me going or I was going to get very depressed.
And of course, I had Carl. He’d been through two Achilles surgeries and before that two ACL surgeries, and he understood the physical and emotional toll that takes on an athlete.
Carl was dealing with some difficulties in his sport at the same time, wasn’t he?
He was. After tearing his Achilles and missing his first year with the New York Jets, he came back strong and got seven sacks in 2022. But in 2023, he had a lot of frustrations with the team. They lost Aaron Rogers right away, then for some reason they stopped playing Carl very much, which was really disappointing, so we had to be there for each other. Sometimes, it was like, “Who’s got the sunshine today?” But we got through it, and all that trauma made our relationship even stronger.
And things have finally settled down for both of you, yes?
They have. Carl signed with the Cowboys last year and had some really good games. It was a nice comeback year where he showed he’s still in the mix . In that business, they like to push out the veterans sometimes, but he was like “I’m here to stay!” And after all he’s been through, it’s amazing the way he’s moving now. The guy is a freak. I mean that as a compliment.
Of course. And you’re back on track as well?
I’m pretty much ready to go with my training. I need to give myself more grace, as hard as that is to do as an athlete, but I’m throwing well and seeing good things. I know I’m probably not going to PR in Oklahoma, but I’m excited to get started again.
Ideally, I wouldn’t want to open up this early, but my goal is to make the World Championships this summer, and this meet has points. And since I haven’t competed in two years, I need to get some meets under me to get my feel back for competing, for dealing with nerves and things like that.
What is your training setup like these days?
Doug will always be my primary coach. With him in Kansas and me in Florida, we spend a lot of time on the phone, and I send him videos. After the meet in Oklahoma, I’ll go to Kansas to train with him for a while and compete there.
I also have a few people who watch me train a little bit here in Florida. On Wednesdays, I go to the University of Miami and train with Coach Cory Young and some of the throwers there. Some days, I throw at a high school near here. Wolfgang Schmidt watches me sometimes.
Wolfgang Schmidt?
Yep. I really enjoy working with him. Doug and I are two peas in a pod in that we both love biomechanics and breaking stuff down, but that sometimes leads to me overthinking. Wolfgang is very relaxed. Are you balanced? Is the disc coming out of your hand nicely? His idea is to get the basics down–foot in the middle, good release, discus behind you–and your body will figure it out from there. At first, his approach was so simple I was wondering if I’d get anything out of it, but now I can see how it builds confidence and rhythm. I really enjoy his coaching style.
Note: The World Invitational will take place at Throw Town from April 10-13. Check out Throws University for a livestream featuring Joe Frontier and Moi as commentators!
Here’s part two of our 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships throws preview. Thanks to Pat Trofimuk for his obsession with statistics and his sage advice.
Women’s Shot Put
Saturday, March 15, 1:45pm EST
Colorado State’s Mya Lesnar took the title in Boston last year with a toss of 18.53m. It will take more than that to win in Virginia Beach, with two ladies in particular likely to push the winning mark over 19 meters.
The first is Nebraska’s Axelina Johansson, who appears to be finding her form at the right time. After a sensational 2023 season during which she surpassed 19 meters on four occasions including a best of 19.54m, the affable Swede topped out at 18.97m in 2024. But, two weeks ago at the Big 10 Championships, she flashed her 2023 stuff while hitting 19.31m for the win. As a former NCAA outdoor champ and Olympic and World Championships finalist, Axelina is at a point in her career where she should thrive under the pressure of a big comp. That will make her hard to beat on Saturday.
If anyone can do it, it’s likely to be Houston’s KeAyla Dove, whose 2025 season has been the kind of roller coaster ride that might make you cough up your funnel cake. She opened with a toss of 16.15m, hit 19.46m on Valentine’s Day, and has gone 18.20m and 18.28m in her two meets since.
But at this point in her career, KeAyla has plenty of experience navigating the ups and downs of her sport. Recruited out of high school to Sam Houston State by Coach Jon Tipton, KeAyla has since competed for three different schools in five different conferences.
She followed Coach Tipton when he took a job at North Texas State after the 2022 season and pushed her PB to 18.95m her first spring in Denton. Unfortunately, Coach Tipton quickly found that North Texas was not a good fit for him, and once again moved on.
KeAyla stayed, but did not thrive in Tipton’s absence, and after a rocky indoor season, the Mean Green staff encouraged her to enter the transfer portal. She did not have to be asked twice, and left North Texas without a firm destination in mind.
Luckily, Tipton was hired last summer by the University of Houston, and KeAyla was able to join him there.
The slow start to this indoor season was part of a careful plan to revive KeAyla’s career. “The first couple meets,” says Tipton, “were all about modeling our process. Our pre-meet routine, how we would go through warmups, how we’d handle prelims. That kind of thing. So, we didn’t care about distance. And the big thing was, we wanted KeAyla to enjoy throwing again. She’d lost that for a while.”
Tipton knew KeAyla had a big throw in her after seeing her push the 6k ball to 50 feet in training. Everything clicked at the Howie Ryan Invitational, and the result was a 51-centimeter PB.
The dropoff to 18.20m and 18.28m in the ensuing weeks can be attributed to a lack of stability in KeAyla’s technique, which is still in the developmental phase. In competition, she sometimes switches between a traditional and static start, and a reverse and non-reverse finish.
But, according to Tipton, “KeAyla is a Ferrari. Everyday, it’s about balancing the needle. A biomechanist here in Houston told her not long ago that she is physically capable of throwing 20 meters.”
If she can get anywhere close to that in Virginia Beach, she may walk away with her first NCAA title, which would be a nice step towards what she and Coach Tipton hope will be a long and successful pro career once her eligibility runs out this spring.
Another intriguing candidate for the top of the podium is defending outdoor champ Jaida Ross of Oregon. In 2024, Jaida was under 19 meters in every indoor comp, including NCAA’s where she finished second to Lesnar with a best of 18.47m. Then in April, she threw 19.71m at two different meets. In May, she broke 20 meters, then hit 19.60m at the Trials to make the team for Paris where she missed a medal by 4 centimeters.
With a World Championships coming this September, Jaida and her coach, Brian Blutreich, seem to be following the same plan that worked so well in 2024. Thus far in 2025, Jaida has a best of 18.47m. Is she capable of reaching the mid-19’s and grabbing the title in Virginia Beach? Absolutely. But with her eyes firmly focused on repeating outdoors, making the team for Tokyo, and fighting for her first international medal, don’t expect her to be in peak form this early in what promises to be a very long season.
And I do not mean to count out the defending champ. Mya Lesnar hit a season’s best 19.02m at the Mountain West Championships, and can certainly go farther on Saturday. Axelina, KeAyla, and Jaida all have PB’s significantly better than Mya’s 19.10m from 2024, but that did not stop Mya from winning in Boston. If it takes something closer to 19.00m than 19.50m to win, she could be in the mix.
My thrower to keep an eye on for the future is Koko Odeluga of Ol’ Miss, last year’s World U20 champ. Her best so far this season is 18.37m, but her coach is the Yoda of peaking, and she tossed a PB at last year’s Olympic Trials, so she won’t be wilting under the spotlight in Virginia Beach. She also has a super aggressive technique that is very fun to watch.
Men’s Shot Put
Saturday, March 15, 5:00pm EST
Trof and I like drama as much as the next guy. He even gets up at an ungodly hour many Sundays to get his Formula 1 fix, a habit that I find strange considering that you can stream Talladega Nights any time you want.
But we both agree that it is well within Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan’s power to end this thing on his first attempt Saturday. He’s the defending indoor and outdoor NCAA champ. He’s thrown over 21 meters twice in 2025. He’s been killing it in the weight room and in training with the off-weight shots. His coach is a dead ringer for Andy Reid. What else does a guy need?
Cincinnati’s Fred Moudani-Likbi is the only other putter over 20.50m so far this season. He’s also the only member of the field who can cuss in French, which can be an overlooked advantage. He lost his 2024 season to a lifting injury, but according to Coach Susan Seaton (who guided Annette Echikunwoke to hammer silver in Paris) kept “an amazingly positive mindset” while rehabbing.
Fred was able to come back and hit some lifting maxes this January, and according to Seaton his main focus lately is reviving his feel for the implement. In February, he found a nice groove at the Music City Invite where he put 20.62m to finish second in a duel with Tarik.
He dropped off to 19.12m at the Big 12 Championships, where Seaton says he probably put too much pressure on himself. The 20.62m would have been a French indoor record, but his federation wouldn’t certify it because of various technical details, so he was gunning for a big one at Big 12’s and got a little tight.
“Once you get into the mindset of focusing on the result,” she explained, “it is hard to get back to focusing on what is happening inside the circle. But one good thing with successful athletes is they are good communicators. They find ways to remain coachable. Fred is one of those people, and we’ve had some good conversations about this experience. He felt bad to let the team down at the Big 12’s, but I told him maybe it will turn out to be a good thing if it helps us have a better mental strategy at NCAA’s and you can focus on what you can control and not distances, marks, and placing, which you can’t really control. Hopefully, he can just focus on what happens in the ring and making a nice throw.”
Seaton also shared her experience with Annette at the 2024 Olympic Trials, which she says was more stressful than the Olympics. They were staying at an Airbnb in Eugene, and the morning of the final Annette was astonished to find her coach calmly watching the European Soccer Championships on her phone. “She was like, ‘Coach, I’m really nervous!’, and I said, ‘I know,’ but I just kept watching soccer and she finally said, ‘Coach, how can you keep watching soccer!?’”
Seaton reminded her that it would be another six hours before they headed to the track, and there was no point in driving themselves crazy with worry in the meantime.
“I said, ‘What are we doing today?’ She said, ‘Throwing hammer.’ I said, ‘What do we do every day? Throw hammer, right? So how hard can it be? You know the people in your life who love you and are proud of you. They will love you no matter what. And who cares what anyone else thinks? So, let’s not worry and just watch some soccer.’”
Assuming Fred takes his coach’s advice, he’ll be the guy pushing Tarik.
Next on the season’s best list is Thomas Kitchell from North Carolina, who hit an SB of 20.47m in February. Thomas transferred from Wake Forest last fall, and his coach Amin Nikfar was happy to get him.
“He’s been great,” Nikfar says. “I’ll only have him for one year, and with a one-year guy it’s important to be careful about making technical changes, so we haven’t tried many new things. You get handed a sports car, you don’t take it apart right away, just maybe try to supercharge it a little bit.”
Thomas was coached in high school by Glenn Thompson, who also mentored Ryan Whiting and Joe Kovacs back in the day. He then worked with Collin Post at Wake Forest. “Those guys,” according to Coach Nikfar, “did a phenomenal job with him, so this is just a continuation of what they started.”
Wisconsin’s Jason Swarens has been hanging around the top echelon of the sport for a while now, finishing fourth at the 2024 NCAA indoors, and second outdoors. His 20.24m toss at the Big 10’s broke the school record of 20.00m set by Danny Block in 2013. Always a class act (Danny grew up in the area where I coach) Danny immediately texted his congratulations. “I hope,” he wrote, “that you hold the record as long as I did.” If Swarens can find his form on Saturday, more congratulations might be in order.
When my daughter was little, I used to take her to the zoo all the time, and on many of those occasions we’d see Amish families walking around in their simple, homemade clothes looking like they’d just stepped out of a time machine. I have to admit, it was a little disorienting.
Shot put fans may experience the same weird feeling when South Carolina’s CJ Licata enters the ring in Virginia Beach and sets up to throw from a glide. But, go easy on him, people. He’s endured a lot just to make it this far.
CJ came down with appendicitis last year just a few days before the outdoor NCAA Championships and, after being hospitalized and losing ten pounds, could manage a best of only 18.79m in spite of having gone over 20 meters at three meets earlier in the season. He competed a few weeks later at the Trials, then finally had surgery to remove the appendix. A back injury messed up his recovery process this fall, and a groin strain this winter complicated matters further. CJ finally opened the 2025 season two weeks ago when he went 20.06m at the SECs. His coach, Mike Sergent, says he’s fit as a fiddle now, and very, very fired up. Trof pointed out that CJ might actually have benefited from throwing off a rough ring, as rotational putters prefer it a bit slick, but of course this is the one time in history when an organizing body actually listened to advice from coaches. Some guys just can’t catch a break.
Licata’s teammate and roommate Dylan Targgart finished third in Boston last year, but has struggled with back issues since the summer. Sergent believes he and CJ can both go over 20 meters on Saturday, which would be a great way for two “tough, positive” guys to finish their collegiate indoor careers.
I’m not sure how tough Trof and I are, but we are absolutely positive that the throwing events in Virginia Beach will be smokin’! I hope you can all tune in and cheer on these great athletes.
To most Americans, the term “March Madness” means one thing–an excuse to watch basketball on their phones instead of working. To my friend Pat Trofimuk and me, it means something entirely different –a chance to watch throwing events on our phones instead of working.
That’s right, folks. The 2025 Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place this weekend in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Pat and I will be following it closely, and we recommend that you do, too. Here’s why.
The Facility
Apparently, it’s quite a lovely place. It also looked, for a while, like it was going to be a factor in the competition.
According to the worldwide web, the Virginia Beach Sports Center was designed to feature 117,000 square feet of column-free, flexible space, a 200-meter banked track, seating for 5,000 spectators, concession areas, skybox meeting rooms, and ample parking.
What it lacked was a top-notch throwing ring.
Shocking, I know.
Word has it that the concrete ring as originally installed at the VBSC was rough and super slow. One of the bolts holding down the toeboard also snapped in the middle of a competition earlier this year, forcing the men’s and women’s shot to be contested from a portable wooden ring.
You’ll never get a throws coach to openly disparage the condition of a facility, especially at a meet like the NCAA Championships where the focus is more on placing and less on producing a PB. Everyone, after all, throws from the same ring.
But I’m not an NCAA coach, so I’ll go ahead and state the obvious. Virginia Beach would not be hosting these championships had they installed a crappy track.
Such is the never-ending story of our sport. If you watched the shot comps at last summer’s Olympics, you probably noticed that once rain began to fall, so did the putters. With the men, Ryan Crouser and Rajindra Campbell both got off nice throws before the ring got wet, and Joe Kovacs and Payton Otterdahl each threw their best in the final round, but aside from that, rounds four, five and six featured seventeen fouls in twenty-four attempts as the competition–which should have featured three guys hammering away at the 23-meter line–devolved into a contest of who could make it through a throw without breaking their neck.
Could the organizers in Paris have installed a ring smooth enough to encourage big throws but grippy enough to give folks a chance in the rain? Absolutely. And it would have cost next to nothing compared to the three million Euro they laid out to install a state-of-the-art Mondo track. But they did not care about the quality of the throwing ring as long as runners were able to post fast times and give everybody a good show on the oval. It was the same story in Tokyo in 2021. The meet organizers there paid millions for a Mondo track surface, which they also used for the javelin runway. Unfortunately, in hot weather the Mondo surface does not hold up under the pressure that javelin throwers exert as they slam their block leg down at the end of each throw. That had a big effect on the competition, and probably kept the men’s favorite–Johannes Vetter–from contending for a medal.
It looked like it was going to be a similar story in Virginia Beach. The runners would compete on a high-quality banked track, while the throwers would make due with a lousy ring when it was easily within the power of the meet organizers and the NCAA to fix it.
And then, a miracle.
Jerry Clayton–longtime coach at Auburn, Michigan, and LSU–is now an NCAA official. Over the past few weeks, various throws coaches reached out to him asking for help in getting the Virginia Beach ring modified, and…he made it happen.
All it took was water, some kind of stone or brick, and someone who knew what the hell they were doing.
Regardless of the method used, it appears that the Virginia Beach ring will be in optimal shape this weekend. Bombs may ensue.
Women’s Weight
Friday, March 14th 2:15pm EST
Trof and I agree that Anthonett Nabwe is the favorite here. She produced an NCAA-leading 24.22m at the Big 10 championships two weeks ago after posting marks of 23.56m and 23.21m earlier this season.
Anthonett was attracted to the University of Minnesota at first because of the thriving Liberian community in the Twin Cities. Her family immigrated to Jamestown, North Dakota, around the time she entered eighth grade, and as fate would have it the local high school had a serious throws coach whose daughter had competed at Iowa. That coach tipped off the Gophers’ Peter Miller that Anthonett might be special, and he was not kidding.
According to Miller, she is “the most powerful human being I’ve been around, male or female.” Anthonett tossed the weight 17.80m while red-shirting during her first year on campus, then demonstrated that power by improving to 23.36m while winning the 2024 Big 10 meet.
She also broke the school record in the shot put last year, while enduring the kinds of ups and downs common among young throwers. Those experiences, according to Miller, have helped her learn how to “manage her nervous system” in the big meets.
That’s good news, because she’ll face some stout competition in Virginia Beach.
Cal’s Giovanna Meeks arrived on campus this winter as a mid-year transfer from Vanderbilt with a PB of 23.04m. Coach Mo Saatara immediately put her through a “crash course” in his approach to weight throwing, and Giovanna responded by breaking 23.50m at three different comps so far this season. It will likely take more than that to win on Friday, but Mo describes her as a “hell of a competitor” so don’t be surprised if she challenges for the title.
Another contender will be Shelby Frank of Texas Tech, who finished second last year while representing Minnesota. She arrived in Lubbock with a PB of 24.09m and tons of big meet experience, which should serve her well this weekend as she tries to help the Red Raiders to a top-three spot in the race for the team title. Some might call that added pressure, but for a veteran like Shelby it might give her the juice she needs to steal the win.
A couple of years ago, Wisconsin’s Chloe Lindeman had the following conversation with coach Dave Astrauskas.
Dave: Chloe, I think you should stop throwing the shot put. Weight and hammer are the way to go for you.
Chloe: Coach, what are you talking about? I’m a shot putter.
Dave: We all think we are a certain thing until we are not.
Since that fateful day, Chloe has won a Big 10 weight title and upped her PB to 23.77m. That throw came in 2023, when Chloe was using one wind and three turns. Earlier this season, she switched to a slap start and four turns, which Astrauskas hopes will allow her to carry a little more ball speed into the finish. Chloe is a strong competitor, a notorious “gripper and ripper” who has often relied on her violent finish to make the ball go. If her new technique allows her to find the right balance between aggression and smoothness, she too will be in the mix.
If, as seems likely, it takes 23.50m or more to win, the competition should come down to one of these four ladies.
Let me close by mentioning an up-and-comer currently representing the University of Illinois. Phethisang Makhethe is a native of South Africa who transferred from New Mexico State after winning Western Athletic Conference titles in the hammer and weight. Under the tutelage of JC Lambert and DeAnna Price, she has broken 23 meters on two occasions this season, and should be a contender for the 2026 title.
Men’s Weight
Friday, March 14th 6:05pm EST
During a meet at the Air Force Academy back in 2023, Wyoming coach Paul Barrett was watching the weight throw when a large young man representing Chadron State College stepped into the ring. Barrett remembers looking over at his head coach and saying, “That’s exactly what I’m looking for. A big ol’ hoss with power!”
A few weeks later, that hoss–his name is Daniel Reynolds–entered the portal, and in 2024 arrived in Laramie with a thrower’s body, a sprinter’s speed, a 4.0 GPA and, according to Barrett, the power of an elite Olympic lifter. He also carried some bad technical habits that had prevented him from exploring his potential.
John Smith told me recently that it is extremely difficult to change bad habits in the hammer and weight once they’ve become ingrained in a kid. Last year, Daniel and Coach Barrett did their best and got him up to 21.46m, but both knew there was lots left in the tank.
The secret to tapping his huge capacity? Addition by subtraction.
According to Barrett, using three turns in the weight caused Daniel to “scoop his finish” and lose his balance as he released the implement. Last fall, they took some throws with a heavy weight using two turns and…Viola!
“He killed it in the fall using two turns,” says Barrett. “And he killed it again when we got inside and used two turns with the thirty-pound weight.”
This winter, Daniel has PR’d every meet, posting a best of 25.06m at the Mountain West Championships. That’s the second best throw in NCAA history, and Coach Barrett says Reynolds can go farther. “We’ve been throwing a lot of heavy weights all season,” he explained. “So he really hasn’t felt the competition ball very well yet. But lately we’ve been using the thirty-five in practice, so he should have a nice feel at NCAA’s.”
That 25.06m makes Daniel the prohibitive favorite this weekend with one possible caveat. For the first time in his career, he’ll carry the weight of great expectations into the ring and, as with Anthonett Nabwe, it will all come down to how well he can manage his nerves and control that Porsche engine of his. And according to Trof, to whom I always defer in matters of the weight, Reynolds’ two-turn technique is tailor-made to hold up in high-pressure situations.
If Reynolds falters, look for Trey Knight of CSUN to fill the void. Knight was second last year with a toss of 24.14m and this season upped his PB to 24.87m. The high school record-holder in the hammer, Trey has been in plenty of big competitions and, according to his coach Dan Lange, possesses a healthy outlook about the sport.
The two originally joined forces at USC where Lange says they learned a lot about maintaining perspective.
“We have,” Lange explained in a conversation last spring, “a process of doing the sport in a way that is healthy and positive. At a Power Five program, it’s easy to fall into a pattern where scoring and winning becomes a transactional obligation. At CSUN, Trey was able to rediscover the joy in throwing, and we really don’t talk about scoring in nationals. We just work at trying to be exceptional at what we are doing.”
If Knight does, in fact, keep his chill, look for him to put some heat on Reynolds.
Ryan Johnson, a midyear transfer from Eastern Michigan to Iowa, might also throw some kerosene on the fire. He did not compete at the 2024 Indoor meet, but took fourth in the hammer last summer at the World U20 Championships, and is unlikely to wilt in the spotlight.
Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan is also no shrinking violet. The former World U20 shot put champ, Tarik is defending NCAA champ indoors and out in the shot. He finished fifth in the NCAA weight last year with a toss of 22.97m, and hit 24.35m at the recent SEC Championships. His coach, John Smith, told me that Tarik’s practice numbers are better than a year ago, and he will be ready to rumble on Friday before defending his shot title on Saturday. If it sounds like a lot to ask a kid to bring his A game to both events, remember that Tarik posted an outdoor shot PB of 20.98m along with a hammer PB of 74.54m at last summer’s Olympic Trials.
And don’t count out Harvard’s Kenneth Ikeji, who won this event last year with a toss of 24.32m. His best so far in 2025 is 23.62m, but he certainly knows how to dial it up under pressure.
Finally, Virginia’s Jeremiah Nubbe has posted three comps over 23.50m after transferring from Texas in the fall. Nubbe is currently coached by Brandon Amo, who helped Ikeji to an NCAA hammer title in 2023. Can Coach Amo create another magic moment with Nubbe? We shall see!
In 2015, Joe Kovacs established himself as the planet’s best shot putter (male version) by launching a massive 22.56m PB at the Monaco Diamond League meeting. That throw moved him to eighth on the all time list, with the seven gents ahead of him having achieved their marks between 1975 and 1990 when…well, you know.
Later that summer, Joe won his first international medal–a gold at the Worlds in Beijing–and at the age of 26 seemed primed to establish himself as the greatest shot putter of the drug-testing era, and maybe the greatest of any era.
Joe Kovacs. Photo courtesy of Diamond League AG.
In the years since, Joe has more than fulfilled the promise he showed during that breakout season, producing historically huge throws in some of the biggest comps, including 22.91m at the Doha Worlds and 22.65m at the Tokyo Olympics. He also became the second man during the current not-so-easy-to-cheat era to surpass 23 meters.
But if you are reading this article, you know who the first guy was, and therein lies the story heading into Paris.
As great as Joe has been, Ryan Crouser has usually been better.
Since 2016, Crouser has won two Olympics, two Outdoor Worlds, one Indoor Worlds and seven national titles, often at Joe’s expense. When Joe went 22.65m in Tokyo, Crouser hit 23.30m. When Joe reached 22.87m at the 2022 US Championships and 22.89m three weeks later at the World Championships, Crouser topped him at both with throws of 23.12m and 22.94m.
At the Triton Invitational in 2015, Joe launched a warmup throw reportedly in the 23.75m range, which got folks thinking that Randy Barnes’ 23.12m World Record, set in 1990, was finally going to come off the books. Folks were right, but it was Crouser not Kovacs who leapfrogged Barnes by reaching 23.37m at the 2021 Trials. And when Joe made his own World Record bid with a 23.23m bomb at the 2022 Diamond League Final, Crouser responded the following spring by taking the mark out to 23.56m.
Long story short, after a decade of eating Crouser’s dust (a big exception being the historic Doha comp) the Paris Olympics offer Joe Kovacs one final opportunity to put himself back into consideration as the greatest putter of all time. All he has to do is break the World Record and win the gold medal.
Which is not such a crazy notion. People who ought to know have said that Joe was in World Record shape when he threw 22.43m at the Trials but got a little too excited and lost his rhythm. The stakes will be much higher in Paris, so keeping his chill could be très difficile. Might I suggest a pre-comp plate of crêpes? After all, they’re just thin pancakes.
But even if Joe does bang out a new record, what are the odds it lasts more than a round or two? Yes, Crouser missed a ton of training this spring while recuperating from elbow and pec injuries, but you may recall that in 2023, after three weeks of inactivity due to blood clots in his leg, he hobbled into Budapest and went 23.51m.
There is also the question of this Leonardo Fabbri fellow, the twenty-seven-year-old Italian who took silver in Budapest with his first-ever 22-meter throw. So far in 2024, he has surpassed 22 meters in twelve different comps. On six occasions, he has gone 22.50m or better.
Leonardo Fabbri. Photo courtesy of Diamond League AG.
That kind of consistency suggests that Kovacs and Crouser aren’t the only ones capable of breaking the World Record.
Beyond that Fearsome Threesome, only a few guys strike me as having the pop to get near the podium. Payton Otterdahl has gone 22m+ in seven of nine comps this year and likely will again in Paris.
Payton Otterdahl. Photo courtesy of USATF.
In 2022 and 2023, Chuk Enekwechi was plagued by sciatic nerve issues which, based on the 21.91m PB he launched in May, appear to be resolved. He’s been a warrior on the tour for years, a great guy and tough competitor, with a physique that would make a Greek statue jealous. It would be great to see him contend, though it will take a big PB to get in the mix.
Chuk Enekwechi. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Sometimes Mother Nature works in strange ways. For example, Filip Mihaljević and I were both born on July 31st, yet he grew up to be European champion and World Indoor bronze medalist while I struggle to dunk on an eight-foot basketball hoop. One similarity we share to this day is that neither of us has made an Olympic shot put final. That will change this weekend, and as with Chuk it would be great to see a guy who has been such a great ambassador for the sport get in the hunt for a medal.
Filip Mihaljević. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Finally, I’m told that Zane Weir, my favorite skinny person, has been training superbly after overcoming a sprained ankle. The next step is regaining the confidence to unleash the beast in competition. Luckily, Zane has a knack for performing well under pressure. With Kovacs, Crouser, and Fabbri in the field, there will be plenty of it.
Zane Weir. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Men’s Hammer Final
August 4
Last year, Ethan Katzberg became my second-favorite skinny person when he ambled into Budapest and put an end to Polish dominance in the men’s hammer. I have nothing against the Poles and their awe-inspiring skill and consistency, but how could you not root for a guy who, when the camera showed him between throws, looked like a teenager patiently waiting for his mom to pick him up from the skate park?
Ethan Katzberg . Photo courtesy of Dylan Armstrong.
Can he win again in Paris, or might the Worlds have been a one-off, fluky kind of thing?
Well, Ethan’s season’s best of 84.38m is 3 meters better than anyone else in 2024, so…yes, he’s going to win. He might even make a run at Sergey Litvinov’s 84.80m Olympic record. And before you accuse me of being an overly optimistic hoser, consider this:
Prior to Budapest, Ethan had hit 80 meters a total of zero times then went 81.25m for the win. This year, he’s been over 80 meters on seven occasions. Qualification should be stress free for him, and he can open the final with a middling distance and still put himself in the top eight. That kind of security gives a fella room to relax and swing for the fences.
The contenders for silver and bronze will include Wojciech Nowicki, the defending Olympic champ who is not so much skinny as mountainous. At 35, Wojciech’s career is nearing its end, and he’s only hit 80 meters once this year, but that came in round six at the European Championships and got him the win. He is seasoned and unflappable in the clutch, qualities which will serve him well in a comp where places two through five might be separated by half a meter.
Bence Halász, Wojciech Nowicki, and Mykhaylo Kokhan . Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Twenty-six-year old Bence Halász took the bronze in Budapest, and was on the receiving end of Nowicki’s sixth-round haymaker this year in Rome, so he’s battle-tested. He also has developed the charming habit of throwing his best when it counts the most. All four of his lifetime comps over 80 meters have come in major championship finals.
Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan is another strong podium candidate. He placed fourth in Tokyo, as a twenty-year-old, and has been over 80 meters on four occasions this year, including 80.18m in Rome. How Ukrainian athletes like Mykhaylo have been able to keep it together while their country has been brutalized by the Russians is a mystery to me, but every Ukrainian medal at these Games will be an “up yours” to Putin, so I am hoping he goes big.
And let’s not forget about five-time World Champ Pawel Fajdek who looks like he should be commanding a motorcycle gang in rural Montana. He’d surely like to add a tenth major championships medal to a haul that places him among the all time greats. At thirty-five, he lacks some of his youthful pop and has only gone 80 meters twice in two years, but old man strength and the ability to make people wet themselves with a single glance cannot be discounted.
Pawel Fajdek. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Yann Chaussinand has hit 79+ on two occasions this year, and will be the only top competitor who can, if need be, cuss in French. At every Olympic Games, a few members of the host squad produce sensational performances. Might Yann come up with something to thrill the home crowd in Paris? Oui, vraiment!
Finally, the German champion Merlin Hummel hit an impressive 79.25m PB in lousy conditions at the European Championships, and at twenty-two might be young and inexperienced enough not to realize that he should be overwhelmed by his first Olympics.
Women’s Discus Final
August 5
Val Allman dominated in Tokyo and has only gotten better since. So far this season, she is undefeated in nine comps including four Diamond League meetings. She threw 69.80m and 69.86m on consecutive weekends in China, and 70.89m and 70.73m on separate days at the Trials. Any of those distances would likely win in Paris.
Val Allman. Photo courtesy of USATF.
I say “likely” rather than “definitely” because though none of Val’s competitors has come close to matching her consistent excellence this year, she…they…well…did you watch the last two World Championships?
In 2022, Bin Feng produced a 69.12m shock-a-roonie to snag the gold medal. That was a 3-meter PB, and I have since adopted her name as a verb, as in “I was up by two on my grandson in driveway basketball when he Bin Fenged me with a 3-pointer from behind the minivan.”
Bin Feng. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Then last year in Budapest, Lagi Tausaga “Bin Fenged” both Val and Bin Feng with a 4-meter PB
But I don’t see that happening in Paris. Lagi will not be present after fouling three times in qualification at the Trials.
In eight comps this year, Bin Feng has averaged a healthy 66.29m, but it’s going to take 70m+ to top Val and she’s not going to get there.
Sandra Elkasević, the best there ever was, will bring the heat to her final Olympics, but she’s not hitting 70 meters either.
Sandra Elkasević. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
Nor will Jorinde Van Klinken, who will be throwing the shot in Paris as well. She was sensational at the European Championships in spite of a Day 1 schedule that had her competing in the shot qualification, disc qualification and shot final in the span of twelve hours.
Jorinde somehow survived, and took silver in the shot that evening, then silver again in the disc on Day 2 with a toss of 65.99m on legs that must have felt like overcooked pasta. A month later she reached 67.23m at the Paris Diamond League meeting, which may well foreshadow a big performance at the Games. Silver or bronze would be a huge step forward in her career, and could signal the start of an intriguing rivalry with Val.
Another up-and-comer worth noting is freshly-minted Swedish record holder Vanessa Kamga. Vanessa won’t get on the podium, but she’s a good bet for the top eight and it is really fun to root for her because she seems to take great joy from throwing the discus–which is why we’re here, non?
Women’s Hammer Final
August 6
Father Time will have a say in this one.
Camryn Rogers, twenty-five years old and the defending World Champion, has surpassed 75 meters in five of six comps this year with a season’s best of 77.76m, which she threw on two occasions. Rogers is sure to throw 77m+ in Paris, and there’s only one competitor who–in 2024 at least–has shown the kind of firepower necessary to match her.
Camryn Rogers. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
That would be 2019 World Champion DeAnna Price, who has gone 75 meters or better five times this season including two comps over 77. I’m told that DeAnna dropped one in the 78-meter range during warmups at the Trials, which suggests she’s close to top form after several injury-plagued years.
But the effort she put into that warm up throw caused her back to spazz, and her best toss in the final was 74.52m. At thirty-one, DeAnna is by no means old, but the type of training required of a world class hammer thrower takes a toll.
DeAnna Price. Photo courtesy of USATF.
If she can stay healthy through qualification and all six throws in the final, she can go toe-to-toe with Rogers and also, per an agreement with her husband/coach JC Lambert become dog eligible. The couple currently owns two, but JC has promised another if DeAnna can medal. And people think these athletes are in it for the money.
If all goes well and DeAnna and Camryn slug it out for gold and silver, the third spot on the podium will be available to anyone who can muster a 75- meter throw. Aside from Rogers and Price there will be five or six ladies capable of reaching that mark, most notably Sara Fantini, who took gold in front of the home crowd in Rome.
Anita Włodarczyk, the three-time Olympic champ, has been hovering in the 71-72 meter range all season, robbed of her pop by years of hard training and injuries, including an ankle sprain suffered while celebrating a World Record throw in 2009, and a leg injury sustained while stomping a man she caught trying to steal her car in 2022. I don’t think she’ll reach the podium in Paris, but if she somehow produces a big one, steer clear if she heads your way for a celebratory hug.
Anita Włodarczyk. Photo courtesy of World Athletics.
My pick for bronze is Annette Echikunwoke who came out on top in a grueling comp at the Trials which saw 2022 World Champ Brooke Andersen and Budapest silver medalist Janee’ Kassanavoid fail to make the team. That kind of toughness will serve her well in Paris.
Annette Echikunwoke. Photo courtesy of USATF.
Daniel Ståhl Books Available
With the Olympics upon us, two books by Vésteinn Hafsteinsson and moi, provide great insight into what it took to get the 2021 discus gold medalist Daniel Ståhl to the top of the podium in Tokyo.
The first, Training forGold: The Plan that made Daniel Ståhl an Olympic Champion details the training program that Vésteinn devised for Daniel. During a thirty-year career as one of the greatest throws coaches ever, Vésteinn came up with an approach to training that those interested in lifting and throwing will find fascinating.
The second book, Gold: The Olympic Journey of Daniel Ståhl and Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, tells the inside story of how Daniel went from hockey player to Olympic discus champion in a ten-year span. This one will appeal to throws lovers and also to more general readers.
Both are available on Amazon and other outlets.
Check out the Throw Big Throw Far Podcasts!
I recently joined up with podcast meister Joe Frontier and all time great shot putter Darrell Hill for a series of Olympic preview podcasts. Darrell will be in the booth when field event qualification rounds are shown on NBC Peacock, and you’ll see why NBC hired him as you listen to these episodes. You can find them through Apple Podcasts and other outlets.
Ok, I missed it. My daughter flew in this morning, and I wasn’t going to ask her to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel her first time in Rome. So the ladies threw the shot while I was on the train.
Sweden’s Fanny Roos was the leading qualifier, though, with a toss of 18.70m. Which was awesome to see. Fanny had a breakout year in 2021 when she took European Indoor silver and finished seventh at the Olympics. She made the Worlds final in 2022 and took another European Indoor medal in 2023, but has struggled since the retirement of her longtime coach, Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, seemed to set her adrift, though she landed with Staffan Jönsson, who had done a remarkable job rejuvenating the career of Daniel Ståhl.
It can be a funny thing switching coaches. Of Vésteinn’s old group, Fanny and Simon Pettersson have struggled—Simon did not advance in the men’s disc today—while Daniel has thrived and shot putter Marcus Thomsen is once again thriving after a difficult 2023 campaign.
Anyway, it would be awesome to see Fanny announce her return to form by snagging her first outdoor European Champs medal.
Look to Jessica Schilder and Yemisi Ogunleye, who both went one-and-done in qualification—a wise move since the final is tonight—to challenge for podium spots.
Men’s Disc Qualification
I missed the A group, but is anyone surprised that Mykolas Alekna went 67.50m on his first throw? It was 9:30 in the morning, hotter than hell in a mostly empty stadium, but…who cares? Look for him to go 70m tonight.
Kristjan did not reach the auto mark but felt comfortable enough with his 65.64m opener that he passed his second and third attempts.
At his size, Daniel is probably the last guy who wanted to be out there throwing in the heat with the final just a few hours away—that’s right, the men’s disc final is also tonight—and it showed, He went 69.01m, 63.79m, foul, then rolled through the mixed zone looking like an extremely grouchy bulldozer.
Vikings are tough you-know-whaters, though, so don’t be surprised to see him on the medal stand tonight.
The highlight for me this morning was seeing Mika Sosna make the final in his first ever senior Championships. I had to haul some ass to get there on my time—a sight which some innocent pedestrians I rumbled past might never be able to unsee. But it was worth it, as he sneaked in at twelfth. And Mika is no shrinking violet. He came up big at Throw Town in April when surrounded by some of the world’s best, so look for him to make the top 8 tonight.
Women’s Disc Qualification
Sandra is going for her 7th European title, and God help anyone who gets in her way. Full disclosure, she looked off balance during warmups and on her first attempt, and I was actually wondering if her reign might end not with a bang but with a really crappy performance in qualification. What a foolish man I am. She was still off balance in round two but hit 65.62m to lead all qualifiers.
When Marike Steinacker stepped in for her third throw, she was the only German discus thrower of either gender who had not secured a place in the final. No pressure there. She came through with a toss of 63.30m, and look for her to contend with Sandra, Shanice Craft—winner of three previous Euro bronzes—and Jorinde Van Klinken—the hardest working woman in show business (Instead of going home and resting between this morning’s shot qualification and tonight’s final, made time in her busy schedule to toss an SB of 65.12m in Group A) to join Sandra on the podium.
Shot Put & Discus Coaches & Throwers All Levels of Development
We have all sat through endless presentations at clinics, listening to dry, boring talks about the theory of throwing technique or some special new drill. BUT how can you Apply this to your sophomore thrower who just came out from basketball?
What’s a Practical Application of all this theory that will work for you AND your thrower?
Monday April 15, 2024 – Two Sessions – 6:00 pm Eastern & 6:00 pm Pacific
SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICING
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Video Analysis – Limit Four Throwers each Session $35
The first four throwers accepted per session will be the subjects of Mac’s Learn by Watching.
Select the session(s) you prefer from these options
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Agenda:– 60 minutes or less
Key Technical Point Discussion
10-12 minutes of the Basic Checklist Points to watch for during the season
Basic Points to watch for that you can have your athletes use to coach themselves.
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Gopher throws coach Peter Miller says the hammer is Shelby’s “least favorite” event in spite of the potential she displayed while producing a PB of 65.83m during a redshirt 2023 season. This winter, Frank used a wind and four turns in the weight to try to get more carryover into the hammer, and a 62.78m toss at the Clyde indicates she might be on the right track.
But though she hopes to contend for big Big Ten points in the ball and chain, the discus is, in Coach Miller’s words, “Shelby’s baby.” And the little bundle of joy seems to be developing quite well! Shelby switched from a fixed feet to full-reverse thrower in 2023 and pushed her PB to 59.07m in the process. She also notched her second consecutive fifth-place finish at the USATF Championships and earned a silver medal at the U23 NACACs in Costa Rica, a pleasant surprise as it was the first time Shelby had visited a foreign country other than Canada (which doesn’t even seem like a foreign country except that everyone is polite there and a “loonie” is a dollar and not a parent raising their hand at a school board meeting).
After a solid off-season of training, Shelby launched a 59.10m bomb at an indoor discus comp on campus in February, then surpassed it last weekend in Waco as part of a very solid series: 56.16m, Foul, 59.69m, 58.17m, 58.98m, 58.13m.
Her goals for 2024? According to Coach Miller, Shelby would like to win her first Big Ten discus title and improve upon her best NCAA finish, which was 6th in 2022. As this is an Olympic year, she’d also like to improve on those fifth-place USATF finishes. Is a spot on the podium and the plane to Paris a possibility? “Shelby,” says Miller, “is physically stronger and faster than she was a year ago. As long as she shows up with a good attitude, she will be tough to beat.”
The same might be said of Gopher freshman Angleos Mantzouranis, whom Coach Miller describes as “an immensely powerful young man” who “looks like an NFL fullback in his lower body.”
Miller says that Mantzouranis’s strength sometimes interferes with his ability to make technical adjustments. “Luckily,” he explained, “I teach the hammer in a similar way to Angelos’s coach back in Greece, Alex Papadimitriou, so that helps.”
Angelos Mantzouranis and Coach Miller at the Clyde. Photo courtesy of Coach Miller.
It might be best that Miller and Papadimitriou share mentorship of Angelos, as his recent ups and downs might be too much for a single nervous system to withstand. Last summer, for example, he dropped a 77.16m one-and-done bomb with the 6-kilo implement during qualification at the European U20 Championships, then No-Marked in the final after pulling an 80-meter effort wide left, banging one off the cage on the right, and barely toe-fouling a 78-meter toss which would have put him on the podium..
In his collegiate debut on March 15th at the Hurricane Invitational, Angelos opened at 70.27m but followed up with five consecutive fouls. He fouled again in rounds one and two at the Clyde, which had Miller wondering if he might be “the worst hammer coach in the NCAA.”
But one thing Angelos does not do is back off when the chips are down, and he ended up putting together a nice series on Friday that included PB’s of 73.50m and 73.85m. Miller says they, “had a good conversation after the meet about the problem of him thinking one thing during a competition and me cueing him on another. We know we have to be on the same page going forward.”
Also sharing space on that page is 2023 NCAA hammer runner-up Kostas Zaltos, who like Angelos, hails from Greece.
The Peloponnesian pipeline first opened for Miller shortly after he took over the men’s program at Minnesota. In the spring of 2019, he was going through some Facebook messages when he noticed one from Kostas saying he’d be throwing at the upcoming European U20 Championships in Sweden.
It just so happened that Miller was planning to attend that comp, and while there he got to meet Kostas and see him throw. “Personality-wise,” Miller recalls, “we connected right away. He fouled out of the competition, but that was probably for the best because it might have kept other schools from noticing him.”
Kostas arrived on campus in January of 2020 and showed off his pop by launching the weight 20.92m before the season was shut down by Covid. As a foreign student, Kostas was required to return to Greece, and while he was gone, the University of Minnesota terminated the men’s track program.
He was set to transfer when the Board of Regents agreed to restore outdoor track only. “Kostas was actually happy about that,” says Miller. “He hated throwing the weight.”
With a European and Olympic Championships this summer, Kostas is taking a redshirt year to focus on making the Greek national squad. The PB 76.33m he hit at the 2023 NCAAs has him just under the 76.50m qualifying mark for Europeans, and within shouting distance of the 78.20m Olympic standard as well.
He is currently training with Miller in Minneapolis, and will compete two or three times in the US before heading home to Greece for the summer. Miller will continue to write Kostas’s training programs and to coach him as best he can over Zoom. Next year, Kostas will be back competing for U of M where he will join Shelby, Angelos, and others on what promises to be a powerful Gophers throws squad.
Book update
Make that “books.”
Training for Gold: The Plan that made Daniel Ståhl Olympic Champion is available on Amazon in paperback and as an eBook.
Cover photo courtesy of Arwid Koskinen
Training for Gold details the 2020-2021 training plan used by Daniel and his coach Vésteinn Hafsteinsson. Anyone interested in the art of training, of balancing lifting with technique work, balancing hard work with rest, avoiding injury, and peaking when it counts, will find valuable information here from one of the great throwing coaches of all time.
In addition, we are a week or two away from releasing our second book about Vésteinn and Daniel…
Gold: The Olympic Journey of Daniel Ståhl and Vésteinn Hafsteinsson is an inside look at their ten-year partnership which resulted in World Championship and Olympic gold.
As I said, this baby will be out soon. Stay tuned!
Throwdown at Throw Town
In a preview of big throws to come at the upcoming 2024 Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational (April 12-14), the discs were flying this past weekend at Throw Town Ramona.
On Saturday, the 23rd, UCLA commit Julia Tunks bashed a PB 59.84m to extend her Canadian U20 and U23 records.
In the men’s comp, 2022 US champion Andrew Evans broke 67 meters for the first time to finish ahead of 2022 World Championships finalist Alex Rose.
Alex Rose opened his 2024 season at Throw Town. Photo courtesy of Caleb Seal.
The following day, Tunks went 58.92m, while 2023 Pan Am U20 bronze medalist and future Kansas Jayhawk Maddie Fey hit 53.52m. Fey’s future teammate at Kansas, Kat Meacham, went 49.89m, while outstanding high school junior Taylor Wiseman notched a 50.23m PB and future Clemson Tiger, Christina Barnett pushed her all time best to 47.35m.
Photo Courtesy of Caleb Seal.
Meanwhile, Evans once again took advantage of the propitious Oklahoma winds in extending his PB to 67.50m. He was again followed by Rose, who notched an early season’s best of 66.57m.
The lineup for the World Invitational promises to be veeeery interesting. More on that soon!
