2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's discus throw
Introduction The '''Men's Discus Throw''' event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 18 and August 19.As the only man to throw in excess of seventy metres that season, reigning world and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia was the event favourite. Veteran athlete Virgilijus Alekna, the last athlete to beat Kanter in competition, was a strong medal possibility. Olympic silver medallist Piotr Małachowski was another contender, as was German Robert Harting who won silver at the previous world championships. The season had been of a high standard, with a number of athletes throwing over 65 m, including Frank Casañas, Bogdan Pishchalnikov and Zoltán Kővágó.On the first day of competition, qualification went smoothly as many of the highest ranked athletes qualified for the final on their first throw, with seven of them passing the automatic qualification mark of 64.50 m. Casañas and Estonia's number two Aleksander Tammert were the only high-profile athletes to be eliminated. Home competitor Harting had the best throw of the day (66.81), and Kővágó and Kanter were the next best qualifiers.In the final, Małachowski and Harting started very well on their first throws, with the former taking the lead with a Polish record-breaking throw, while the latter recorded a season's best. The pre-event favourites Kanter and Alekna were unable to challenge the two, as the Estonian took the bronze with his fourth round throw of 66.88 m and the Lithuanian never bettered his first throw of the day (66.36 m) and finished up in fourth place. Consistently throwing better than the rest of the field, Harting and Małachowski battled for the top spot. The Pole improved his lead with 69.15 m in the fifth round, another national record, but Harting took the gold with his final throw of the competition, recording a personal best of 69.43 m.The victory for the home athlete was marred by his controversial comments regarding an initiative by victims of doping in East Germany. Former East German athletes, who had suffered through the state-sponsored doping program in the 1980s, were distributing glasses outside the stadium to encourage people not to "turn a blind eye" to doping. Harting said that he wished his discus would bounce from the ground and hit wearers in the eyes, but he later retracted and apologise for his statement.
Medallists '''Gold''''''Silver''''''Bronze'''
Records '''World record''''''74.08'''Neubrandenburg, East Germany6 June 1986'''Championship record''''''70.17'''Helsinki, Finland7 August 2005'''World leading''''''71.64'''Kohila Parish, Estonia25 June 2009'''African record''''''70.32'''Salon-de-Provence, France26 May 2002'''Asian record''''''69.32'''Tallinn, Estonia3 June 2008'''North American record''''''71.32'''Eugene, United States4 June 1983'''South American record''''''66.32'''Rosario, Argentina15 April 2006'''European record''''''74.08'''Neubrandenburg, East Germany6 June 1986'''Oceanian record''''''66.37'''Salinas, United States22 May 2008
Qualification standards A standardB standard 64.50 m 62.50 m
Schedule  Date Time RoundAugust 18, 2009  '''10:05'''   '''Qualification'''August 19, 2009  '''20:10'''   '''Final'''
Results ===Qualification===Qualification: Qualifying Performance 64.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final. Rank  Group  Athlete  Nationality  #1  #2  #3  Result  Notes    A  Robert Harting    '''66.81'''    '''66.81'''  Q    A  Gerd Kanter    '''66.73'''    '''66.73'''  Q    B  Zoltán Kővágó      '''65.82'''   '''65.82'''  Q    B  Jarred Rome    60.92  '''65.51'''   '''65.51'''  Q   A  Casey Malone    '''65.13'''    '''65.13'''  Q    B  Virgilijus Alekna     '''65.04'''    '''65.04''' Q    A  Mario Pestano    '''65.03'''    '''65.03'''  Q    B  Piotr Małachowski    64.20  '''64.48'''  62.65  '''64.48''' q    A  Bogdan Pishchalnikov    '''62.93'''  61.09  60.08  '''62.93'''  q 10   A  Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly    '''62.84'''  62.09    '''62.84'''  q 11   B  Gerhard Mayer     '''62.53'''  59.33  62.19  '''62.53'''  q  12  B  Frantz Kruger    '''62.29'''    60.45  '''62.29'''  q 13   A  Aleksander Tammert    '''62.24'''  61.93  59.44  '''62.24'''   14   A  Ian Waltz      60.27  '''62.04'''  '''62.04'''  15   A  Benn Harradine    60.73  '''61.74'''  60.79  '''61.74'''  16   B  Frank Casañas         '''61.10'''  '''61.10'''  17   A  Gaute Myklebust      '''60.80'''    '''60.80'''  18   A  Bertrand Vili    '''60.68'''      '''60.68'''  19   B  Erik Cadee      '''60.64'''  	    '''60.64'''  20   B  Markus Münch    '''60.55'''    59.12  '''60.55'''  21   B  Ivan Hryshyn     '''59.93'''  57.28    '''59.93'''  22   B  Märt Israel     '''59.58'''      '''59.58'''  23   A  Jorge Balliengo    56.69  55.32  '''59.19'''  '''59.19'''  24   B  Ahmed Mohamed Dheeb    55.33  '''59.16'''     '''59.16'''  25   B  Nikolay Sedyuk       '''59.03'''  58.62  '''59.03'''  26   A  Oleksiy Semenov    '''58.78'''  57.31    '''58.78'''  27   A  Daniel Schärer    '''58.50'''  58.23  57.22  '''58.50'''  28   B  Germán Lauro    '''57.88'''      '''57.88'''   29   B  Ercüment Olgundeniz    56.54     '''57.52'''  '''57.52'''    A  Haidar Nasir          '''''' ===Final=== Rank   Athlete  Nationality  #1  #2  #3   #4  #5  #6  Result  Notes   Robert Harting   68.25  67.04  67.80    67.80  '''69.43'''    '''69.43'''   PB   Piotr Małachowski   68.77  68.05  67.00    '''69.15'''  67.33  '''69.15'''  '''NR'''  Gerd Kanter    65.91  65.65    '''66.88'''  66.24  65.45  '''66.88'''    Virgilijus Alekna    '''66.36'''  66.32  65.68  64.53  66.24    '''66.36'''       Casey Malone    63.61  61.59  65.64   64.84  65.98  '''66.06'''   '''66.06'''   Zoltán Kővágó      63.09  62.47    '''65.17'''  61.69   '''65.17'''       Bogdan Pishchalnikov     62.03  63.29  63.18  64.26  '''65.02'''    '''65.02'''     Gerhard Mayer    62.16  60.49  '''63.17'''    60.83     '''63.17'''     Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly    62.13   '''62.83'''  62.76          '''62.83'''  10 Mario Pestano    '''62.76'''     62.27  	         '''62.76'''     11 Jarred Rome    58.48   '''62.47'''          '''62.47'''   12  Frantz Kruger       '''59.77'''           '''59.77'''  '''Key''':  PB = Personal best, NR = National record
References ;General* Discus throw results. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-18.;Specific