More on New Throwing Formats

Over the past few days I have had a few more thoughts on the Athletics Weekly article I posted earlier this week. One thing I edited out of the article was a section on why both of the events I featured happened to take place in the same country. Neither had any huge local star to showcase, and Sweden doesn’t even have a particularly strong throwing tradition when compared to nearby Finland and Germany. Everyone I interviewed attributed it to the Swedish way of thinking, whatever that is. No matter what the cause, I find it interesting that the event was such a success despite the fact that only a handful of the fans could likely name even one of the stars. This proves to me the throwing events can appeal to almost anyone if they are packaged the right way.

This is one situation where a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, so I’ve compiled a few videos to give you an idea of how the events looked. The Big Shot competition in Sweden was replicated here in Zurich in 2010 and 2011. I put together a video profile of the event this year that takes a behind the scenes look at it. For a video of the original version in Stockholm, click here.

Hammer thrower Sergej Litvinov Jr. was the biggest name throwing at the Karlstad Grand Prix event last year. He posted his own video of the eveent on YouTube:

Finally, the events I featured in my article are just a few examples of new ideas in the throwing world. Many others exist. For example, Germany is famous for its throwing-only meets that pack the stands. One of my favorite meets to compete at is the hammer meet in Fränkisch-Crumbach, where fans can get right up next to the cage. Just last weekend Nordhausen hosted an indoor shot put competition that filled a small arena. Once again, this shows the broader appeal the throwing events can have. Take a look: