2011 Nike Prefontaine Classic: Throw A Mania! by Tom Jordan, note by Larry Eder

Christian Cantwell, 2009 Nike Pre Classic, photo by PhotoRun.net

Better get a ticket to the 2011 Nike Pre Classic, as the throw geekdom that
is being thrown down will make even the saviest throw fan drool! Cantwell, Patterson, Majewski, Hoffa and more!

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WORLD NO. 1s HEADLINE THROWS AT PRE

Talk about
quality! Each of the four throwing
events at the 2011 Prefontaine Classic on June 4^th features the number 1 ranked athlete in the
world, and 3 of the 4 include the reigning Olympic or World Champion.

In the
men’s shot put, current World Champion Christian
Cantwell brings his Track & Field
News ranking as the best shot putter in the world for the past two years
back to Eugene, where he set a monster Pre Classic meet record of 73-6 Â¼
(22.41) in 2010. The 30-year-old American is also the Olympic silver medalist
from Beijing.

And the
Olympic gold medalist from those 2008 Olympic Games? That would be Poland’s Tomasz Majewski, who is also in the Pre Classic field. Trading
places with Cantwell, Majewski was the silver medalist at the 2009 Berlin World
Championships. In fact, with Americans Reese
Hoffa (WC gold in ’07) and Adam
Nelson (WC gold in ’05) in the field, that’s three world shot put
champions. But wait! Add in Andrey Mikhenivch of Belarus, the
2003 World Champion, and the Eugene Diamond League shot put includes every
World Champion since the turn of the century!
And every one of the 8 entrants is ranked in the top 10 in the world by Track & Field News magazine.

Robert Harting at his greatest moment: 2009 WC victory! photo by PhotoRun.net

The medal
count continues in the men’s discus throw, with world No. 1 Robert Harting of Germany stacking his 2009 World Championships
gold against the 2008 Olympic gold of Estonia’s
Gerd Kanter and the recent OG/WC
silvers of Poland’s
Piotr Malachowski. And for those
counting medals, it’s hard to beat the 7 claimed by super-vet Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania,
including two Olympic and one World Championships golds. The field contains the Nos. 1-2-3-4-6-8 ranked
throwers from 2010!

That quality
continues in the women’s shot put, with No. 1 ranked Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Russia,
No. 3 Natallia Mikhnevich of Belarus, No. 4 Anna Avdeyeva of Russia,
and No. 7 Jill Camarena-Williams of
the United States in the field. Ostapchuk has a complete set (gold-silver-bronze)
of World Championships medals, as well as an Olympic bronze from Beijing. Mikhnevich is the Olympic silver medalist
from the 2008 Games. And each of the top
4 threw farther last year than the venerable Prefontaine Classic meet record of
62-11 Â½ (19.19), set by Connie
Price-Smith in 1997.

Kara Patterson, 2010 AVIVA London, photo by PhotoRun.net

The same
can be said of the women’s javelin throw, with 6 of the 8 competitors having
thrown farther last year than the previous Prefontaine Classic meet record of
213-11 (65.20). The difference is that the current (Kara Patterson), and former meet recordholder, Barbora Spotakova, is in the field.

The current Meet and Hayward Field Record in the women’s javelin is held
by Kara Patterson (USA) at 216-2 (65.90). At the 2010 Prefontaine
Classic, Patterson broke Barbora Spotakova’s Meet and Field Record of
213-11 (65.20) set in 2007.

Spotakova is the reigning Olympic Champion and
2007 World Champion. To protect her No. 1 ranking from last year, the
29-year-old Czech will need to fend off world No. 2 Christina Obergfoll of Germany,
No. 3 Mariya Abakumova of Russia, No.
5 Sunette Viljoen of South Africa, No.
6 Kara Patterson of the U.S., No. 7 Martina
Ratej of Slovenia, and
No. 9 Madara Palameika of Latvia.
Obergfoll is the bronze medalist from
the Beijing Games, Abakumova won silver in Beijing and bronze at the 2009 World
Championships, and Patterson is the current American recordholder.

Tickets for
the 37^th annual Prefontaine Classic are on sale at www.goducks.com, from 1-800-WEBFOOT, and in
person at the University of Oregon Athletic Department ticket office. The NIKE
Prefontaine Classic will be televised live from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

SHOT PUT (MEN)
Christian Cantwell
Reese Hoffa
Andrey Mikhnevich (Belarus)
Tomasz Majewski (Poland)
Dylan Armstrong (Canada)
Adam Nelson
Ryan Whiting
Cory Martin

DISCUS THROW (MEN)
Robert Harting (Germany)
Piotr Malachowski (Poland)
Gerd Kanter (Estonia)
Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuania)
Zoltan Kovago (Hungary)
Casey Malone
Jason Young
Ian Waltz

SHOT PUT (WOMEN)
Nadzeya Ostapchuk (Russia)
Natallia Mikhnevich (Belarus)
Anna Avdeyeva (Russia)
Jill Camarena-Williams
Michelle Carter
Sarah Stevens-Walker

Natalia Duco (Chile)

JAVELIN THROW (WOMEN)
Barbora Spotakova (Czech Rep)
Christina Obergfoll (Germany)
Mariya Abakumova (Russia)
Sunette Viljoen (South Africa)
Kara Patterson
Martina Ratej (Slovenia)
Madara Palameika (Latvia)
Rachel Yurkovich

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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