Pars defeats Fajdek in an epic hammer final (WL)

The 2014 European Championships men’s hammer event turned out to be an epic one. The final results shows impressive numbers from Krisztian Pars, Pawel Fajdek  and even the bronze medalist Sergey Litvinov. In the end Krisztian Pars takes home the gold medal with an impressive last round effort of 82,69m which is even a new world leading mark. The Polish hammer thrower Pawel Fajdek placed second, only a few cm short of Pars. His best attempt was measured 82,05m. The Russian Sergey Litvinov threw 79,35m which meant the bronze medal. 

The first two rounds were not impressive at all. Not one thrower was able to throw over the 80m mark until Pars smashed his third attempt to over 82m. Pawel Fajdek seemed to have some technical difficulties since he fouled the first attempt and only managed to throw 78,48m during his second. But in the end this was enough to get three additional throws.

Sergey Litvinov opened big with 77,33m which is quite unusual for him to begin with. He underlined his consistency with a second throw over the 77m mark during his second attempt. Same as Pawel Fajdek he fouled the third and fourth attempt. They might have been impressed by the 82,18m bomb thrown by Pars during the third attempt.

Everyone knew that Fajdek would be able to show his great shape and even with technical difficulties he managed to get close to Pars with his 5th attempt. He smashed the 7.26kg implement to 82,05m. Meanwhile, Sergey was still in fourth and ready to take on Primoz Kozmus for the bronze medal, but Szymon Ziolkowski 77,36m and even Pavel Kryvitski 78,05m pushed him to the 6th place. Sergej knew he would be ready to fight for the bronze medal and sneaked to the third place with his fifth round throw of 79,35m which is a new seasonal best.

The most stable thrower of the competition, Krisztian Pars, was the only one without a single foul and continuous improvement with almost every attempt. Pars started the competition with 78,11m, improved to his first 82m throw in the third round and during the final round he underlined his great shape with a massive 82,69m throw. This was not only the winning throw but also a new world lead. Congratulations to everyone!

Flash interviews:

Krisztian Pars:

After the qualification, I thought that the circle was horrible and I had very mixed feelings about it. But today, the circle was OK and I was technically improving. The European title is amazing, especially because I managed to improve step by step in every attempt. The last throw felt like 83.50, I am sure I will throw that next year. I was watching Pawel but he had big technical problems – he only had one good throw but still, his turn was not so good. He is very strong, so he managed 82 meters but I know he had some problems. I am very tired now because the event was very long but I hope we will celebrate it with my team.

Pawel Fajdek:

Despite the fact that Pars was not throwing well in the qualification, I knew he was going to thow very far in the final. It already happened before. I only had more than one week for the preparation, so I could not expect mirracles after my arm injury. But 82 metres – that is really not bad. Now, I will train a bit before the Continental Cup and I want to beat them at Skolimowska memorial in Warsaw next week. It should be maybe my revange.

Sergey Litvinov:

This is my first international medal and I am very happy with it. My result, 79.35m was a surprise for me, I was hoping for 78m. 79.35m is very good for me. I had 77m in the first attempt which is also not normal for me at the start of a competition. I was sixth until my fifth attempt were I threw 79.35m and came third. This fifth attempt was a good technical throw. Today’s conditions were good, sunshine. But I was hoping for rain because I am good in the rain. I had a hard season, troubles with shape and with technique. During 1,5 months I only trained technique. I do not know about after these championships, maybe I will have some meetings now. My manager will send me an email. I train with my father who is a hammer coach, most of the time we train in Adler which is near Sotchi. I am a professional athlete getting money from the Russian federation and the regional government. I like this system, more than the system in Germany where I used to live before. My father stayed at home, I coached myself here. Only I can know what to do.