HAMMER BREAKTHROUGHS FOLLOW YEARS OF PROGRESS
Ian Tempest, BASC member and Secretary of the Hammer Circle
There’s no doubt in 2015 that the throws event making the most progress in the UK was the hammer throw. Martin Girvan’s men’s senior record of 77.54, set in a British League in the Olympic year of 1984, has lasted for over 31 years. It was approached several times earlier in the year by Nick Miller and Mark Dry. Miller had big early season marks in America - then came the crucial Loughborough match in May where Mark Dry went 76.93 (Scottish record) and Nick was also over 75m. Mark's second 76m result at Loughborough in July, and Nick’s UK record of 77.55 in Sweden means the UK had two male hammer throwers at the Worlds this time. Both athletes joined Olympic finalist and regular 70m thrower Sophie Hitchon on the plane to Beijing as automatic selections.
Beijing saw more historic breakthroughs. Nick Miller became the first ever UK men’s hammer finalist in the World Championships with his second best ever throw – 77.42 – in qualifying. He ultimately placed 11th, while Mark Dry was a competitive 15th in qualifying. Later, Sophie Hitchon produced an extraordinary series of six successive throws over 71 metres in the final, including two UK records (73.65 and 73.86) and finished a wonderful fourth – the best place by a UK senior hammer thrower in ANY global event since Malcolm Nokes won bronze at the 1924 Olympics!
These throwers have been throwing well against experienced overseas opposition consistency this year – and Nick Miller won the European U23 title a few weeks ago against top Russian and Hungarian throwers. International championship representation is a scarce commodity in the throwing events – but at least enables the UK to start to challenge the formidable stars of hammer throwing such as the Poles Pawel Fajdek and Anita Wlodarczyk.
Excellent progress is being made throughout the age groups, especially by a group coached by Paul Dickenson. Taylor Campbell (6th in the European Juniors) has set UK U20 records with the senior (16lb) and Junior (6k) hammers, while sixteen year old Jake Norris was 7th at the World Youths and has thrown 74.00 with a 5k this year. Four U18 girls have thrown beyond 60m with the 3k hammer this season, and the UK U15 girls record has now gone to Tara Simpson-Sullivan (57.74), who by a delicious coincidence is coached in Cumbria by John Little – Nick Miller’s first coach!
So why have these improvements happened, when other throws events have struggled recently in the UK?
Most specifically I'd track back the build up to all this progress some ten or more years ago, when the likes of Alex Smith, Amir Williamson, Matt Lambley and Sarah Holt (all future internationals) were winning English Schools titles. Building on the success of such veteran coaches as Alan Bertram, Mike Morley and Ron Bowden, great work by Dave Smith in Hull, and by Lorraine Shaw, Chris Black, Malcolm Fenton and others, began to raise the standards and depth of performance (the base of the pyramid), especially with younger throwers. Ten years ago valiant stalwarts like Mick Jones, Mike Floyd and Simon Bown kept the senior flag flying but they were eventually overtaken by younger throwers and the progress has kept on motoring. Hence strong coaching – including from ex-internationals such as John Pearson, Paul Head and Paul Dickenson - is maintaining the momentum. Further input has been secured from overseas coaches such as Derek Evely and Tore Gustafsson, having a major input at elite level.
No-one in hammer throwing is complacent as, though strength in depth is good, there is always room for more! The throwers are not getting the kind of television exposure which would attract even more youngsters to the event, and the non-inclusion of hammer throwing in the Diamond League (instead relegated to an IAAF Hammer Challenge) is a long standing frustration at home and overseas. Too often in UK meetings the event is held outside the main stadium, so the casual spectator risks missing out on the entertainment. Hopefully the success of the hammer throwers this year will turn this around.