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THROWS

Men’s Shot Put

26-year-old American Joe Kovacs enters his first World Championship competition in a rare position. 

 

While he owns the 22.56m World lead with his gigantic toss from Monaco, Kovacs faces a formidable foe in two-time defending World champion David Storl of Germany, who has beaten the American two out of the three times they’ve faced each other in 2015. So, while he enters Beijing with momentum fresh off of his big PR, Kovacs is a Worlds newbie tasked with the tall order of stopping a three-peat.  

 

Kovacs’ huge throw in Monaco was the furthest the world has seen since 2003, and it’s more than a foot further than Storl’s best in 2015. Simply giving Kovacs the title of favorite in Beijing due to his big heave in Monaco would be foolish, however, as the German brings a tremendous advantage of both experience and consistency into the Bird’s Nest. Storl has been solid this season each time that he’s competed, never recording a performance under 21.20. Kovacs, on the other hand, has failed to crack 21m on three separate occasions, which has been disguised by the fact that he’s gone over 22m three other times. 

 

The big question will be which Joe Kovacs shows up in Beijing. 

 

Women’s Shot Put

For the first time since 2005, the women’s shot put will have a new World champion as Valerie Adams was forced to bow out of the competition last week due to a slow recovery from surgery. With the winner of four straight World titles missing in Beijing, the door has been opened for Germany’s Christina Schwanitz to capture her first gold in China. 

Without 4-time champion Valerie Adams, Germany's Christina Schwanitz is the gold medal favorite in Beijing

The 29-year-old Schwanitz should feel comfortable throwing in the Bird’s Nest, as she set her 20.77 PR and World lead in Beijing back in May. Schwanitz has won all but two of her competitions in 2015, with both of her defeats coming at the hands of China’s Gong Lijiao. The 26-year-old Lijiao will have the home crowd advantage, and some momentum after beating the German in her last outing. 

 

Despite her loss to Lijiao in their last matchup, Schwanitz owns a 10-9 career head-to-head record against her Chinese counterpart, and has thrown nearly a foot and a half further in 2015. Even on Lijiao’s home turf, Schwanitz is the clear favorite in Beijing. 

 

American Michelle Carter has a very good shot at medaling, as her 20.02 throw from USA’s makes her third best in the world in 2015. If Carter can find her way onto the podium, she would join Jill Camarena-Williams as just the second US woman to medal in the shot put at the World Championships. 

 

Men’s Javelin

Defending champion Vitezslav Vesely returns looking become just the second man in this event’s history to win multiple gold medals at the World Championships. Standing in the Czech’s way will be two 90m+ performers in 2015, headlined by Kenyan Julius Yego, whose 91.39m throw in June was the furthest in the world since 2006. 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who won three years ago in London as a teenager, is the other 90m thrower this season.

Kenyan Julius Yego has never stood on the podium, but his 91.39m toss in June was the furthest in the world since 2006

While that throw by Yego is best this season by more than four feet, the 26-year-old has only had a best of 85.50 since that June 7th day in Birmingham, leaving the door open for the men behind him with much more experience to take the crown in Beijing. Finland's Tero Pitkamaki was the 2007 World champion, and like Vesely, would become the second man to win two javelin World titles. Pitkamaki is fourth in the World this season with his 89.09 best, and scored a big confidence building win in Monaco over Vesely, Walcott, and Yego. 

 

Women’s Javelin

World record holder and two-time Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova is only sixth in the World this season with a best of 65.66, but the 34-year-old Czech seems to be coming into form at the perfect time as she has thrown season’s bests in her last three competitions. While Spotakova’s best throw this season is nearly a full meter behind Sunette Viljoen’s world lead, her progression suggests that she’s saving her best for the World Championships.

Two-time Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova got off to a slow start in 2015, but is coming on at the right time

The top two women in the world this season, Viljoen and Kim Mickle, each threw their best marks of 2015 way back in March, and neither woman has come close to 66m since then. Given that it’s been five months since these ladies have thrown further than Spotakova this season, their position on top of the world in 2015 is very misleading. No doubt that the Czech is the favorite.

 

Defending champion Christina Obergfoll missed all of 2014, and understandably has looked nothing like her 2013 self this season. However, the German will enter Beijing fresh off a 64.11 season’s best, which suggests that she too is coming into form at the right time. 

 

Men’s Discus

With Germany’s Robert Harting missing the World Championships due to injury, the men’s discus will have a different World champion for the first time since 2007. With Harting out, Poland’s Piotr Malachowski looks poised to capture his first World title in the three-time champ’s absence. 

 

The 32-year-old Pole enters Beijing peaking at the right time. On August 1st, Malachowski threw the 2015 world lead of 68.29, which is more than a meter further than anyone else in the last month. While Jamaican Jason Morgan’s PR of 68.19 is a close 2nd to Malachowski’s world best, that throw was over two months ago and Morgan only has a best of 62.03 since then. 

 

If Malachowski, the reigning world silver medalist, can win, he would become the first man from Poland to win a world discus gold.

 

Women’s Discus

Olympic and World champion Sandra Perkovic faces a stiff test from 2015 World leader Denia Caballero of Cuba, who can become the first woman in history to win Pan Am and World Championship gold in the discus. 

 

The 25-year-old Croatian has ruled the discus world since 2012, highlighted by her two gold medals and her massive 71.08 heave at the 2014 European Championships, which is still the furthest throw in the world since 1992. Even though Perkovic has only cracked 70m once in 2015, more than five months ago, she has won all but one competition this season, with her lone defeat being a close second place finish in Lausanne. 

 

Caballero cracked 70m for the first time in her career on June 20, throwing the 70.65 World lead which is nearly two feet further than Perkovic’s best this season. Although the Cuban owns that advantage, she has never beaten Perkovic in her career, going 0-7 against the Croatian in their head-to-head match-ups. 

 

Men’s Hammer

Defending World champion Pawel Fajdek has owned the hammer throw during 2015, and he enters Beijing with a 15 meet win streak and a world lead of 83.93 that's more than four meters further than the second best performer this season. Additionally, the 26-year-old Pole is coming into form at the exact right time as his world best mark came just last Sunday. 

 

Any result other than Fajdek winning gold would require a massive upset, but no man is more capable to beat the Pole than Hungary’s Krisztian Pars, the 2012 Olympic champion. The Hungarian owns a 28-14 career record against the reigning World champion. 

 

With Fajdek’s best throw coming in his last competition, and it being so much better than anyone else this year, it’s tough to imagine anyone else winning gold. But if one man can pull a stunner, it would certainly be Pars. 

 

Women’s Hammer

Fresh off the 81.08 World record on August 1st, there’s no question that Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk is the huge favorite to capture gold in Beijing. Her record is more than five meters further than anyone else in the world this season, and no one has beaten the 30-year-old Pole in over a year.

 

This event is as predictable as any in Beijing. Barring a monumental collapse, Wlodarczyk will become the third woman in this event’s history to win gold at multiple championships.