Libor Charfreitag claimed Slovakia’s first ever European title winning the men’s hammer with a throw of 80.02m in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Libor Charfreitag made history in Barcelona’s Estadio Olimpico tonight winning Slovakia’s first European title in a men’s hammer final that he dominated from the second round.

Charfreitag’s winning throw of 80.02m is the 2007 world bronze medallist’s first title and brought his nation its first ever European championship medal in either men’s or women’s events. For the record, Slovakia’s previous highest finisher was Robert Stefko who was fourth in the 10000m back in 1994.

Not that the winner was thinking of that. After finishing seventh in Munich eight years ago and 14th in Göteborg, the 32-year-old was delighted to finally have his hands on gold.

“To win the gold is a reward for many years of hard work,” he said. “Technically I really messed up tonight. But what counts is the result.”

The veteran Italian Nicola Vizzone took a shock silver, just as he had in at the 2000 Olympics while Krisztian Pars in third continued Hungary’s proud tradition in this event by winning its ninth European championship hammer medal.

In a final stripped of a number of pre-event favourites who all went out in qualifying, Pars was tipped to be Charfreitag’s main opponent and held second for much of the competition after throwing 79.06 in the second round.

But Vizzone stole silver from his grasp by just 6cm in a dramatic last round in which the Italian first lost bronze, then threw 79.12 to leap from fourth to second.

“Ten years ago I won silver in Sydney,” said Vizzone. “Now I have another.”

A throws coach based at the Southern Methodist University in the United States, Charfreitag has been in great form all year, and he effectively killed the competition in the second round.

It was Pars, however, who found his range early. The Hungarian launched the hammer to 77.34 in the first round before extending his lead briefly in the second.

Charfreitag started gently with 75.50 before opening up in the second to take the lead by nearly a metre, a throw further than anyone else in the field has managed all season.

That seemed to knock the stuffing out of his opponents and at the half way stage the giant Slovak led from Pars with Vizzone in third thanks to a third round effort of 78.03, just 4cm further than the Pole Szymon Ziolkowski in fourth.

At this point the event lost the 2006 silver medallist Olli-Pekka Karjalainen as the Finn was one of four to pack their bags early. Karjalainen reached just 73.70.

Charfreitag seemed relaxed throughout, a picture of calm as he sat on the benches in his track suit, a white towel draped over his left shoulder, while many of his opponents prowled around outside the hammer cage. Each round he prepared himself, head bowed, at the top of the circle before entering the ring.

Pars, a bulkier thrower than the gold medallist, tried his best to respond to Charfreitag’s challenge in the fourth round with 78.94, but the positions remained the same until the last few throws.

Before the final round it appeared Ziolowski needed to find 4cm for a medal, while around a metre separated first from second and second from third.

But it was Valeri Sviatokha who at first shook up the order. The Russian leapt from sixth to third with 78.20, pushing Vizzone out of the bronze medal position. He punched the air thinking he’d made the podium at the last moment.

But the left-handed Vizzone had other ideas. The 37-year-old Italian hasn’t been close to a major medal since finishing fourth at the world championships in 2001 and he wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by. The silver-haired hammer man summoned all his experience to respond with 79.12, not only shoving Sviatokha back to fourth but snatching the silver medal from Pars.

“I am like a good wine,” said Vizzone. “The older, the better.”

Pars did his best to fight back but could only find 77.87 and the triumphant Charfreitag declined to take his last effort. After all, why bother when you’ve just made history.

He pulled on his track suit top and waved at his supporters in the crowd. Still calm, he laced up his shoes and bagged his glove. There were no histrionics or laps of honour from the history maker. This was just a job well done.