Lots of countries can claim to have the strongest tradition in hammer throwing. The United States has the most all-time Olympic medals, but has only won two medals in the past 60 years. The Soviet Union has the second most medals all-time, yet many of those were likely aided by pharmaceuticals. Hungary has a strong nine medals, which is outstanding considering its size.

Often overlooked, however, is Ireland. The country is arguable the historical home of the ancient hammer throw and was at the forefront of the event when the modern Olympics began more than a century ago.

This weekend I participated in the European Cup Winter Throwing for the third straight year The idea of the meet is to provide a winter championship for events, such as the hammer throw, that cannot compete indoors. Since we throw outside a warmer location is ideal, yet this is the first time in three years that this goal was actually accomplished.

This year’s edition of the meet was held in Bar, Montenegro, a small Adriatic port town in Montenegro. With picturesque mountains, a ring just 100 meters from the sea, and warm weather, the conditions were perfect. After a strong opening meet last weekend I was hoping to throw 65 or 66 meters this weekend especially after being motivated by Sultana‘s massive Canadian record yesterday of 75.04 meters. Alas it was not to be.

The European Team Championships is one of my favorite competitions of the year. Switzerland selects one athlete per event to compete against eleven other countries. Each European country is split among four levels. Switizerland is in the second level competition and travelled to Izmir, Turkey to compete in our group of twelve (no one seemed to mind that Izmir was technically located in Asia). Our goal was to maintain our position and after the first day of competition we are well positioned to do just that.

The Setting
The European Team Championships is always one of the highlights of my calendar. Not only do I get a chance to compete against some of the best throwing countries (Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, etc.), but I get a chance to put on the Swiss uniform. For four days, all of the nation’s best athletes spend time together, cheer for each other, and hang out with each other. It reminds me of the annual UW/WSU dual meet I competed in at the University of Washington, just on an ever bigger scale and including free access to massage for the entire weekend.

Right now I’m in Sofia, Bulgaria for the European Cup Winter Throwing. This is my first competition of the 2011 season and, to get straight to the point, I didn’t reach my expectations for the meet.

I am the type of thrower that normally throws several meters further in competitions. My all-time training best is just 66 meters and I’ve been throwing between 62 and 64 meters in training recently. My goal for the competition was a result around 65 or 66 meters, so that was very realistic based on my training results. Instead I threw 62.48m. The main problem today was that I forgot to tell my body that it was a competition rather than another training session. After the meet I felt like I had just taken six throws at 80% intensity. My technique was decent, but I just didn’t accelerate the hammer much. It has been more than six months since my last competition, so I guess I just had to knock off a little rust. Since training has been going well, I am not going to panic about this one. I also was able to finish in a pack just behind some other 70 meter throwers and I had no foul trouble at all (although I had one foul overturned by an official).

The Swiss national team travelled to Belgrade last Thursday with one goal in mind: get promoted back to the first league with a top two finish at the European Team Championships. The European Team Championships are kind of like the conference championships for European countries. Each country sends a team with one male and female athlete per event, and the meet is scored. The top and bottom teams in each league move up and down a division. We were relegated last year and were hoping to move back up again this year.

The men’s hammer field was great and included the world leader and two of the top four throwers in Europe this year. Unfortunately, the weather was not as good. My training improved a lot in the week leading up to the meet and I felt ready to throw 65-66 meters. However, after warming up, reporting to the call room, and being escorted onto the field, a torrential downpour arrived and the hammer was delayed by more than an hour. After the weather improved, we warmed up again and I managed a decent throw (63.11m), but was not as fresh as I would have liked. Still, I am quite happy with the result. I place fifth and scored valuable points for the team and threw my best result in Europe so far this year. My technique also felt better and I had no fouls. I know that in better conditions I can throw several meters further and plan to do so at my next competition. The team also did outstanding. After the first day we were in second place and improved to first on Sunday to capture the win and achieve our goal.

Right now I’m sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting to catch my flight home to Seattle. The first leg of my flight gave me some time to reflect on yesterday’s competition. While there were positives and negatives from the meet and I may not have thrown as far as I wanted to, I did achieve much of what I wanted. I started the competition with a lot of energy. My first attempt flew out of my hand and landed at 65.75m. Unfortunately, it also landed just outside of the sector, as did my second attempt. After making a few adjustments, I got a legal throw in the third round and improved again in the fourth and fifth rounds before having a questionable foot foul on my final attempt. My best throw measured 64.72m.

I’m back in Seattle for the week before heading to France to open my season at the European Cup-Winter Throwing. The entries for the meet were just released and it will feature an elite field, with over 20 throwers over 70 meters. I’m hoping to gain some experience and approach my best opening result ever (66.47m). Training has been going well, and I think that is possible with the right conditions.

My time in Seattle will be busy working on business for the Evergreen Athletic Fund. I actually attempted to take a few throws at a small local competition on Saturday, but ended up passing most of my attempts due to a sudden hail and wind storm. After the competition, I put on a quick youth clinic for the throwers with Mike Mai, Zack Midles, and Jake Boling. Tomorrow, we will host our annual meeting and I’m excited to see what ideas we have for the future of the organization.

The indoor track season is heating up, and it’s is making me anxious to start my season too. Yet again this year I’ve had the pleasure of providing news and commentary for the Evergreen Athletic Fund’s CollegeHammer.com and HSHammer.com.  This season has already produced some great results that have been fun to write about.  I’ve spent more time recently working on both sites and our traffic has doubled thanks in part to some great features we’ve posted on my training parter Kibwé Johson, world junior champion Walter Henning of LSU, my friend Brian Richotte, D3 record holder Kevin Becker, Norwegian champion Steffen Nerdal of Memphis, as well as emerging coaches Dave Hahn and Scott Block.

As anxious as I am to compete, however, I’m still willing to wait another until another month or two.  While the results are fun to watch, the indoor weight throw is not very helpful to the hammer throw.  That leaves me counting down the days until the outdoor season starts.  The past few years I’ve opened up just before the Mt. SAC Relays in mid-April.  This year, I can’t wait that long.  My results from last year left a bad taste in my mouth and I am eager to get back in the ring and show others that I am still on track to reach the 2012 Olympics.  My first meet will likely be at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma on March 13th.  Assuming all goes well, I will then be traveling the Arles, France (near Marseille) to represent Switzerland in the European Cup Winter Throwing on March 21st.  A tentative schedule for my season can be found here.

I was speaking with Swiss National Javelin Coach Terry McHugh last night and he said something along the lines of this concerning yesterday’s competition: when I come out to watch the Olympic Champion and silver medalist, I expect there to be some huge throws … that was the furthest thing from what happened. I competed [...]