Urbanek takes Victory at Rome DL | Harting is Back | Malachowski victim of new IAAF rules

Today's Diamond League event in Rome was quite special. The Olympic Champion Robert Harting had finally his outdoor comeback. His goal was to show that he is still the man in the ring and that his competition should look out for him at the Rio Olympic Games later this year. Robert Urbanek won the DL meeting with exactly 65.00m; Victor Hogan placed second with 64.03m and Robert Harting 3rd with 63.96m. 

The Diamond League meeting showed once and for all that the new IAAF rules are not reasonable (to put it in a polite manner).... The current leader in the Diamond League race Piotr Malachowski was the victim to the new rules and was not allowed to have three further throws to fight for the points. The new rule states that only the best four throwers after three rounds get three additional throws. After the three rounds, Piotr Malachowski was in the 6th position with 63.23m and had no chance of fighting for additional points.

Urbanek opened with 64.17m, followed by Victor Hogan with 63.44m and Daniel Stahl 62.11m. During the 2nd attempt, Urbanek improved to 65m which was his victory throw. Harting improved to exact 63m; Dacres trumped Harting with 63.50m and Stahl also with 63.25m.

The third round showed that the new IAAF rule is not quite so good as expected... The current Diamond League Race leader Piotr Malachowski failed to make the cut with his best attempt of 63.23m. Harting improved to 63.62m to place 2nd after three rounds. Hogan's best attempt of 63.44m put him on the 3rd place, Dacres with his 63.50m on the fourth place and Urbanek's 65m throw first place.

During the remaining three attempts, not much has changed. Only Victor Hogan trumped Harting with his 5th round throw of 64.03m. Harting threw 63.96m in his 4th attempt but fouled his remaining two.

Shaun Pickering:

Piotr Małachowski, IAAF Diamond Race leader, cannot be happy with the new Diamond League rule where only Top 4 get 3 further throws, as he does not make cut in ‪#‎RomeGoldenGala‬ Stupid Rule, and stopping fans from seeing real competition! IAAF needs to change this or Athletes will have to boycott or revolt!

Joe Kovacs would not have thrown 72'7" last week if he hadn't made the top four. Roehler would not have won Shanghai a few weeks ago on his sixth throw. The list goes on and on

Randy Barnes took Olympic Gold in '96 on Final throw, moving from 5th place....That was the story of that competition, why do they want to prevent these stories on the biggest stage the sport has!