Andrey Mikhnevich of Belarus will go in as an overwhelming favourite for the men's Shot Put title at the 10th European Cup Winter Throwing meet in Arles, France, over the weekend.

The European Cup Winter Throwing meeting has historically provided an early season opportunity for the continent's top throwers to impress and this weekend's competitions in Arles, France, should be no different.

The highlight of the men's events 12 months ago in Los Realejos, on the Spanish island of Tenerife, was Estonia's reigning Olympic Discus champion Gerd Kanter throwing a massive 69.70m.

Shot Put
For the favourite among the 20 entries, look no further than Belarus' Andrey Mikhnevich, who finished second in last weekend's thrilling competition at the World Indoor Championships.

Mikhnevich, the 2003 world champion and 2006 European Athletics Championships silver medallist, has not thrown below 21.30m in any of his four indoor outings this winter, discounting the qualifying competition in Doha.

He set a national indoor record of 21.81m last month and it's reasonable to expect that he should produce some impressive throwing on his outdoor debut for the year.

Hungary's Lazslo Kürthy, last year's Cup winner with 20.06m, Serbia's Asmir Kolasinac and Portugal's Marco Fortes could have a good battle for the minor places behind Mikhnevich.

Discus Throw
Unfortunately, there will be no Gerd Kanter this time. "This year's schedule is been slightly different form the last year's plan and I will be concentrating on the upcoming summer season. I've got great success in Barcelona (the 2010 European Athletics Championships) as the main goal for this season," said the Estonian Discus giant recently.

In his absence, the best thrower is Spain's Mario Pestano, who will be looking to impress ahead of fighting for a medal on home soil at the European Athletics Championships.

Austria's Gerhard Mayer, like Pestano a World Championships finalist last summer, could be the Spaniard's main rival while Germany's Markus Münch has fond memories of last year's Cup when he threw his personal best of 64.90m to win the B competition, a result that would have placed him second behind Kanter in the main contest.

Also not to be overlooked is Kanter's protegee, the Netherlands' Erik Cadée.

Hammer Throw
A fascinating competition should ensure with seven competitors who have thrown over 80 metres in their careers.

Russia's Aleksey Zagornyi finally proved his championship credentials, after a previously poor record, by taking the bronze medal at last summer's World Championships. He is the leading thrower in the field and able to boast of a lifetime best of 83.43m.

However, Latvia's Igors Sokolovs is on top of the 2010 world rankings at this very early stage in the year with 79.09m.

Also having a good start to the year and making his way to Arles is Italy's 2000 Olympic Games silver medallist Nicola Vizzoni, who threw 78.22m at the Italian Winter Throwing Championships earlier this month.

There will also be considerable interest in Belarus' Yuriy Shayunou, who won the gold medal at both the 2007 and 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships. "If I can throw 77 or 78 metres in Arles, then I will be happy," said Shayunou.

Finland's Olli-Pekka Karjalainen and Turkey's Eşref Apak are two other men with big championship medals to their name but who will be looking to redeem themselves a little after modest seasons in 2009.

Neither man made the World Championships final last summer but Karjalainen, a former world and European junior champion, won the 2006 European Athletics Championships silver medal while Apak, like Karjalainen a former world junior champion, won the 2004 Olympic Games bronze medal.

Javelin Throw
Three men in the competition have thrown over 83 metres with Russia's Ilya Korotkov leading the way having thrown a personal best of 85.47m - currently the second best performance in the world this year -  at the Lunev Memorial meeting in Adler last month.

The first two men in last year's Cup also return to do battle: Germany's Timo Häber, who improved in 2009 to 83.46m, and Estonia's Mihkel Kukk.

Eyes will also be on Italy's Gianluca Tamberi. The 19-year-old, who was fourth at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships, has improved dramatically this winter to 78.61m.