Fajdek the king of hammer throw

Poland’s Pawel Fajdek once again proved he is the undisputed king of hammer throw at the IAAF World Championships by sealing his fourth consecutive at the Khalifa International Stadium yesterday.

With a throw of 80.50 meters, Fajdek became the first man in history to achieve the feat of four successive gold medals at the World Championships.

France’s Quentin Bigot with 78.19m clinched the silver beating Hungarian Bence Halasz by a single centimetre.

Pawel cleared 80.50m in the third attempt while compatriot Wojciech Nowicki finished fourth clearing a distance of 77.69.

Nowicki has been the man this year, leading the world list with 81.74m to Fajdek’s 80.88m. They were the only two to have gone past 80 metres, next best was Spain’s Javier Cienfuegos at 79.38m. Yesterday, Cienfuegos was nowhere near his best and finished seventh with his best of 76.57. Qatar’s Ashraf El Seify finished in the ninth position with a throw of 75. 41.

Meanwhile, in the women’s heptathlon, Katarina Johnson-Thompson won her 200m heats in 23.08 to take her points tally to 4138 points. She finished the day one of the combined events with a lead of 96 points over Belgium’s Nafissatou Thaim.

Johnson-Thompson performance got her personal best in the 200m giving her 104 extra points. It was the fourth best day one score ever, one point better than Thiam’s best ever first day haul.

“I am really happy about my season bests and my performance today. I never think of these things like where I am after the first day,” Johnson-Thomson said.

“I know I am in a good shape, I am where I needed to be and the way I competed. Gold - why not? I am in shape and position to do it but you never know what can happen on day two. But I have to work hard on my second day, so anything is possible,” she added.

Yesterday, athletes competed in the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m. Today they will be in action in the long jump, javelin and 800m.

Johnson-Thompson will go into the second day with a points tally of 4138, while Thiam has 4042. In third place is Kendell Williams of US with a score of 3855, her compatriot Erica Bougard a further two points behind.

“I would give my day one a C-minus. I am very hard on myself. I opened up with a huge PB in the hurdles, which I was really excited about.

For some reason the high jump didn’t click today, neither the shot put. I had better throws in practice and in other competitions. It is kind of disappointing because I fell off my pace for a personal best for day one. I hope to do super well tomorrow and finish my three events really strong,” Williams said.