With a fifth-round throw of nearly 75 meters, Kibwe Johnson@@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibwe_Johnson@@ won the men’s hammer throw competition at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Beaverton, Ore., on Thursday. His first throw of the afternoon would have been enough to win the event at 74.40 meters and stood as the mark to beat — until his fifth-round throw of 74.97.
He and third-place finisher A.G. Kruger@@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AG_Kruger@@ will wear the stars and stripes in London after both met the Olympic-A standard earlier this year. Kruger will be competing in his third Olympic games, while Johnson will make his Olympic debut after fouling out of the 2008 Trials.
“I’ve been a starving hammer thrower for so long,” Johnson said. “I’m happy to finally do it — ’08, I felt like I had a real good shot and it just fell short. I made some changes, and the changes have been paying off.”
Chris Cralle@@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cralle@@ finished in second place with a throw of 74.36, but the personal-best effort still fell below the Olympic-A standard of 78 meters, meaning that despite his finish, he will not compete in London. Regardless, he was more than satisfied with his performance.
“I’m always surprised when I throw well, so I’m happy with today,” Cralle said.
For an unattached competitor claiming to be sponsored by only his parents, the experience of simply reaching the finals of the Trials was reward enough — for now.
“This is the best experience I’ve had in track and field in six years,” he said. “I’m just glad to be up here with A.G. and Kibwe, I’ve looked up to them for six years of throwing, and I’m just glad to be able to finish with them.”
Lucias MacKay@@http://throwerspage.110mb.com/stats/combo.php@@ launched a throw of 68.87 meters on his first attempt to take the lead in the first flight of qualifying throws. However, the mark was barely good enough to rank within the top nine after the second flight of throws. That round featured a stronger field that included the only two athletes to previously achieve the Olympic-A standard of 78 meters.
Mackay, the only Oregon Track Club representative in the hammer throw competition, ultimately qualified in the ninth and final slot and threw at the beginning of the rotation in the finals. He edged out Army’s Michael Mai@@http://www.usatf.org/Athlete-Bios/Michael-Mai.aspx@@ by less than half a meter. After posting the best throw in the first qualifying flight, MacKay could only nervously watch the second qualifying set.
“I knew I was going to have to win the flight to make the finals,” MacKay said. “It was pretty gut-wrenching towards the last round, and it ended up being down to a Georgia grad and a Florida grad for the last spot, and Georgia won out.”