The men's hammer throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 2 and 4 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes were expected to compete; the exact number was dependent on how many nations used universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through distance or ranking (no universality places were used in 2016). 31 athletes from 21 nations competed. Wojciech Nowicki of Poland won the gold medal, adding to his 2016 bronze to become the 15th man to earn multiple hammer throw medals. It was Poland's second gold medal in the event, after Szymon Ziółkowski's 2000 victory. Nowicki's countryman Paweł Fajdek took bronze. Between them was Norwegian thrower Eivind Henriksen, with his silver being Norway's first-ever Olympic medal in the men's hammer.

Background This was the 28th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except the first in 1896.

Paweł Fajdek of Poland was the four-time reigning World Champion (2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019), qualified, and was a favorite in Tokyo.

No nations made their men's hammer throw debut, though Russian athletes competed as the "ROC" for the first time. The United States appeared for the 27th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's hammer throw event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 77.50 metres. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 32 is reached.

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the hammer throw.

Competition format The 2020 competition continued to use the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1936. The qualifying round gave each competitor three throws to achieve a qualifying distance (77.50 metres); if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 will advance. The final provided each thrower with three throws; the top eight throwers received an additional three throws for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round throws were not considered for the final).

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.

Area Distance (m) Athlete Nation Africa 81.27 Mostafa Al-Gamel Asia 84.86 Koji Murofushi Europe 86.74 Yuriy Sedykh North, Central America and Caribbean 82.52 Lance Deal Oceania 79.29 Stuart Rendell South America 78.63 Wagner Domingos

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's hammer throw took place over two separate days.

Date Time Round Monday, 2 August 2021 9:00 Qualifying Wednesday, 4 August 2021 18:30 Final

Results Qualifying Qualification rules: qualifying performance 77.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes 1 B Wojciech Nowicki 79.78 — — 79.78 2 B Rudy Winkler 76.39 78.81 — 78.81 3 B Eivind Henriksen 78.79 — — 78.79 , 4 A Quentin Bigot 76.10 78.73 — 78.73 5 A Mykhaylo Kokhan 76.82 78.36 — 78.36 6 A Nick Miller X 76.93 X 76.93 7 B Javier Cienfuegos 72.76 75.56 76.91 76.91 8 A Eşref Apak 75.87 76.76 75.15 76.76 9 A Paweł Fajdek 74.28 X 76.46 76.46 10 A Serghei Marghiev 74.31 72.25 75.94 75.94 11 A Valeriy Pronkin 75.09 75.80 75.80 75.80 12 B Daniel Haugh X X 75.73 75.73 13 A Gabriel Kehr 74.46 72.61 75.60 75.60 14 A Bence Halász 75.39 X 75.03 75.39 15 A Diego del Real X 73.32 75.17 75.17 16 A Alex Young 75.09 75.02 X 75.09 17 B Humberto Mansilla 73.17 74.76 72.77 74.76 18 A Ivan Tsikhan 72.48 74.57 X 74.57 19 B Yury Vasilchanka X 73.27 74.00 74.00 20 B Hlib Piskunov 72.42 73.37 73.84 73.84 21 B Tristan Schwandke 72.92 72.74 73.77 73.77 22 B Mihail Anastasakis 73.52 73.22 X 73.52 23 B Mostafa El Gamel 72.13 72.76 71.85 72.76 24 B Marcel Lomnický 71.17 X 72.52 72.52 25 A Christos Frantzeskakis 72.19 X 70.64 72.19 26 B Ashraf Amgad El-Seify 71.84 X X 71.84 27 A Hleb Dudarau X 71.04 71.60 71.60 28 B Taylor Campbell X 71.34 X 71.34 29 A Suhrob Khodjaev 70.87 X 71.26 71.26 30 B Mergen Mämmedow 62.93 67.41 67.53 67.53 31 B Özkan Baltacı 63.63 r — 63.63

Final Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes Wojciech Nowicki 81.18 81.72 82.52 81.39 82.06 X 82.52 Eivind Henriksen 79.18 79.06 80.31 77.78 81.58 80.02 81.58 Paweł Fajdek 77.58 78.58 78.83 78.04 81.53 79.66 81.53 4 Mykhaylo Kokhan 77.91 80.39 X 79.79 78.81 77.52 80.39 5 Quentin Bigot 77.93 79.39 78.30 78.84 X 75.78 79.39 6 Nick Miller 77.88 X 77.46 77.64 X 78.15 78.15 7 Rudy Winkler 77.08 X 75.95 X 75.34 X 77.08 8 Valeriy Pronkin 76.72 X X X 75.97 74.73 76.72 9 Eşref Apak 76.22 76.71 74.28 Did not advance 76.71 10 Javier Cienfuegos 74.62 X 76.30 Did not advance 76.30 11 Daniel Haugh X 76.22 X Did not advance 76.22 12 Serghei Marghiev 73.28 75.24 74.95 Did not advance 75.24

References