Yuriy Sedykh’s hammer throw record still seems too far after 35 years and counting

(Sports news) In track and field sports there are many records which have stood for long, but there are a few records which remain unbroken and there is little progression even after decades. Mike Powell’s long jump record still seems impossible now and Yuriy Sedykh’s hammer throw record which is one of the longest standing records in track and field. Yuriy was representing the Soviet Union at that time and competed for 19 years at the international level.

 

Yuriy Sedykh’s record was set on 30th August, 1986 at Neckarstadion in Germany. He threw the hammer at a distance of 86.74 meters and as of now nobody has crossed 86.50 metres. Yuriv’s name appears 10 times inside the top 20 throws of all time, such was his dominance at the sport. Only one man could come a bit near his record was fellow countryman Sergey Litvinov who is the only other man to throw above 86 metres. Sergey’s gold winning effort of 84.80m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics is still the Olympic record, he also won silver at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

 

Yuriy won the gold in 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Olympics. He and Sergey couldn't compete at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as the Soviet Union had boycotted the event, in the 1988 Olympics the silver was taken by Yuriv which was his third and final medal. The top 13 thirteen throws in history consist of Yuriv and Sergey, in fact the best throw in the last decade is 83.93m by Pawel Fajdek which is 44th overall according to the official records in https://worldathletics.org/. The last 85 metre plus throw came in 1988 by Yuriv and the last 84 metre plus throw was in 2008 by Ivan Tikhon.

 

At this year’s Tokyo Olympics, the gold winning effort by Wojciech Nowicki was 82.52m and this year’s best throw is 83.93m by Pawel Fajdek. Fajdek is the only person in the last decade to cross 82 metres when he threw 83.93m in 2015, he won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

 

Yuriv is indeed one of the greatest hammer athletes of all time and his records still stands without any competition is a testimonial to that. He did it in 1986 and now in 2021 athletes are far behind him which does not happen very often in any event. Even 3 decades have gone through but it looks tougher as each year passess through. Yuriv passed away this year on September 14 as he left behind a legacy which will always shine bright and keep inspiring upcoming athletes as it has been doing for the past few generations.

 

Also read: Jeremy wins gold at Commonwealth Championships

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