Kevin Toth took home the win at the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday along with the event and Hayward Field records.
Above the roar of the 11,227 Hayward Field faithful, the microphones around the stadium resonated with the words “the greatest shot put competition ever in America.”
For the first time ever, three Americans threw the 16-pound shot over 71 feet in the same competition.
Kevin Toth, 34, won the Prefontaine Classic with a throw of 72 feet, 9 3/4 inches, breaking the previous Pre Classic record (70-07.50) and the Hayward Field record of 72-03.
The Hayward record was set in 1999 by John Godina, who finished Sunday’s Classic in third place with a throw of 71-10 3/4. Adam Nelson placed second with a throw of 72-00.25.
“We’re becoming a marquee event — let’s keep it that way,” Toth said. “We can entertain as well
as anybody, if not better because we’re bigger.”
Nelson, who won a silver medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and a gold the next year at the Goodwill Games, thrilled the Hayward crowd with his energetic pre-throw routine that involved walking in two complete circles, pausing on the right foul line of the shot put field and then stomping down the line toward the throwing circle while throwing off his warmup shirt.
“I was very pleased with my throwing today,” Nelson said after the meet. “But today is Kevin’s day. I’m so fired up to have him back and throwing well.”
In February 2001, Toth had surgery on his back, which was affecting his left push-off leg, and in his sixth appearance at Hayward Field, he was at his best. Toth’s previous personal best was 71-5.5, which he threw in 1997 at the USA Championships.
Also in 1997, Toth used his
6-foot-4-inch, near 300-pound frame (his throwing weight Sunday was 320 pounds) to compete in the World’s Strongest Man Contest. In the U.S. Strongman final, Toth placed sixth, winning the tire toss contest.
Toth’s first throw Sunday at the Classic quickly drew the interest of the Hayward crowd by breaking the Pre Classic record by almost a foot. Godina, ranked No. 1 in the world four times, followed Toth’s initial throw with one that would have been measured longer, but Godina fouled during his follow through by stepping outside of the circle.
Toth threw his record-breaking shot in the fourth round of the competition while the crowd sat silently awaiting the start of the men’s 100-meter dash. Toth said that he took advantage of the situation to draw the crowd’s attention from the runners into the shot put circle. When his record breaking toss landed beyond the yellow stripe that signified the previous record, the crowd erupted into cheers, forcing the sprinters to back off of their starting blocks.
With the excitement of the day, his record breaking throws and his exuberant celebratory jumping, Toth said he was “dead by the fifth (round).”
But by then, the damage was already done.
Toth said that this record-breaking day was just a starting point for the rest of the outdoor track and field season.
“Watch out, man,” he said. “I know bigger things are coming.”
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at [email protected].