MODESTO – Christian Cantwell complained two years ago about the shot put being held out of the limelight here on the end of the infield.

SALINAS, California, May 8 -- Stephanie Trafton continued her stunning improvement in the discus on a brisk, windy afternoon at Hartnell Junior College, throwing 217-1, with two other throws in the 210 range.

Tero Pitkämäki, reigning European Athlete of the Year, has been slightly out of the spotlight since picking up his trophy at the European Athletics Calendar Conference in Malta last October, but the Finnish javelin thrower is now ready to cast off the winter wraps.

Estonian World Champion Gerd Kanter has taken lead of the World Discus rankings after his 70.38m clearance in Chula Vista, California on Friday.

This year's European Cup Winter Throwing Hammer Champion, Marco Lingua (ITA), improved his 77.87m best from the Split Championships, to 78.18m at a local meeting in Terni, Italy last week.

Hammer thrower Koji Murofushi said Wednesday he plans to make a delayed season debut in June in the run-up to his bid for a second straight Olympic gold medal.

Russian Athletics Federation took decision to disqualify hammer throwers Tatyana Lysenko and Yekaterina Khoroshikh for two years, the federation’s president and IAAF Council member Valentin Balakhnichov told the All Sports agency.

Norway's reigning Olympic Javelin Champion Andreas Thorkildsen, will start his season on May 9 in Doha at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Videogames play an important role in Olympic shot-putter Reese Hoffa's training, but not the way you might think.

In less than four months, the Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing.

Reese Hoffa made his 2008 outdoor debut a notable one, winning the Shot Put with at the Spec Towns Invitational in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday (11 Apr).

PORTLAND, Ore. - This summer, all eyes will be focused on Oregon as Eugene hosts the U.S. Olympic trials and while many of the athletes will come from big schools with big resumes, a small school in Portland is getting on the map.

Most of the time when people hear something is average, they don't think it is anything special.

Austin, USA - It was cold and windy, then warm and windy and then cold and windy again, and performances reflected it on the third day of the Texas Relays, as most of the action consisted of qualifying races and high school events.

Ukrainian throwing protégée, Mykyta Nesterenko managed to improve his own incredible World best performance with a 1.5kg Discus to 74.32m on Sunday.

Silver in Osaka, second in last weekend’s European Throwing Cup in Split, Germany’s Robert Harting is starting to make it a habit. Before Osaka, not too many outside his own support group of two – girlfriend and coach – would have given him much of a chance of a podium place in the men’s Discus Throw. But he came away with silver and put himself on the wish-list for a medal hope in Beijing in the summer.

The second day of competition at the European Cup Winter Throwing in Split did not enjoy the same sunny weather as Saturday, but the competition lost none of its excitement!

There was a replay of the Osaka podium in the men's Discus competition on this first day of the 8th European Cup Winter Throwing in Split (CRO).

The Ukrainian Athletics Federation is proud to announce a young and improving team for the European Cup Winter Throwing in Split this weekend.

The Estonian team for the 8th European Cup Winter Throwing to be held on March 15 and 16 in the Croatian city of Splt, will be led by reigning World Discuss Champion Gerd Kanter.

Mac Wilkins is still pretty awesome after all of these years.

Valerie Vili is on the top of the world again, adding the world indoor shot put title in Valencia this morning, to the outdoor title won in Osaka last year.

VALENCIA, Spain - Christian Cantwell reclaimed his World tile and Reese Hoffa picked up a silver medal , while Angela Williams added a gold to her medal collection Friday night at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Defending Shot Put champion Reese Hoffa means business. As he did in Moscow two years ago, the 30-year-old American led all qualifiers in the opening round, and he did so here with class, reaching a season’s best 21.49m.

With the competition areas of the Velódromo Luis Puig” especially resurfaced for the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships, Valencia, Spain (7 – 9 March), with the same covering as will be used for 2008 Olympic Games, and many of the world’s top athletes breaking their winter training schedule to compete, the athletics world is preparing for three days of exciting action in the venue which hosted the 1998 European Indoor Championships.

BOSTON - Adam Nelson lost the national title but won the Visa Championship, while Lolo Jones took the women's Visa title Sunday at the 2008 AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center, on the campus of Roxbury Community College.

Valerie Vili combined a world class shot put victory with acceptance of the sportswoman of the year and the supreme award in the Halberg Awards at the new Douglas track and field stadium in Waitakere City last evening.

Commonwealth Games cult hero Scott Martin underlined his Olympic potential last night by producing his third A-qualifying shot of the season to steamroll opposition at the Athletics Australia Cup.

New York City, USA – Adam Nelson set a Madison Square Garden record in the Shot Put and Bernard Lagat moved closer to another one with a win in the Wanamaker Mile to highlight the 101st Millrose Games on Friday night (1 Feb).

Canberra, Australia – New Zealand’s visiting World Champion Valerie Vili confirmed her Olympic title intentions when she launched the shot 19.72m to win the Australia Day national series meet in the Australian capital today.

Weighing in at just over 120kg, and an imposing 1.96m tall, this weekend’s 5-Minute Interviewee is a true heavy weight contender! It is perhaps no surprise that this 28-year-old Estonian used to be a wrestler... but a wannabe popstar is harder to imagine!

Fresno, California, USA – Reese Hoffa isn’t holding anything back when it comes to the indoor season in the Shot Put. Yesterday, the reigning indoor and outdoor World champion kicked off what will be a hectic indoor campaign with a win at 21.06m in the USA vs. The World competition in the Run for the Dream Invitational at the Save Mart Center (21 Jan).

The reigning world champion outdoors and indoors in the shot put, Reese Hoffa spoke on Monday with the New York Track Writers and media from around the country via conference call.

Denmark’s only female Athletics medal-hope in Beijing, javelin thrower Christina Scherwin is looking more optimistic in terms of her participation at the Olympic Games.

To mark the end of our ‘2007 in review' series we thought we would have one final fling and bask in the glory of the outstanding success of Europe's female throwers...

"How are you everyone? The year (2007) has come to an end. Because this year’s World Championships in Athletics were held in Osaka, I would imagine that many people have started to like Japan.

Growing up in the western Estonian village of Tiduvere, World Discus Throw champion Gerd Kanter dreamed of becoming not a track and field athlete but a star of the NBA basketball courts. He had a poster on his wall of iconic Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan but his hopes were dashed when a sports school refused to accept him to play his boyhood passion.

The end of the year is traditionally a period to spend time with friends and family and reflect on the ups and downs of the year that has passed. So as we enter 2008, we invite you to reflect on what has been a successful year for our sport in Europe.

Monte-Carlo - In the second part of their eight peice review of the highlights of the 2007 Athletics year, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava survey the THROWS.

Germany has been the envy of the World when it comes to its men's Discus throwers, and emerging star Robert Harting looks set to continue this trend. Germany has been the envy of the World when it comes to its men's Discus
throwers.

World Champion Valerie Vili nailed her opening competition of the season with an emphatic shot put of 19.24m at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium last evening.