Latvian shot put hope Märis Urtäns.

The fact that European athletes dominate the world lists in three of the four men’s throwing events suggests these battles of the giants could be some of the highest quality contests in the entire championships.

It’s only in the shot put, where the world rankings are saturated with Americans and Canadians, that Europeans aren’t leading the field. But that doesn’t mean the shot won’t be a compelling competition, not least because Europe’s leading thrower has a score to settle.

Andrei Mikhnevich was world champion as long ago as 2003, and has an Olympic bronze medal to his name from 2008. But four years ago the Belarusian saw the European gold snatched from his grasp in the last round by Ralf Bartels after he’d led throughout the competition.

Mikhnevich heads the European lists this year with 22.09m, a national record set in Minsk just last week. He will come to Barcelona full of confidence after setting a national indoor record of 21.81m earlier this year before going on to claim the world indoor silver in Doha. Indeed, his series in Minsk will be enough to put fear into his rivals as it contained four throws further than any other European this year: 21.85m, 21.68m, 22.09m and 21.82m.

But Bartels is hard on his heels again. The German lies fifth in the European lists after putting 21.14m to finish second behind world leader Christian Cantwell at the Doha Diamond League meeting in May. The champion also set an indoor PB this year, and certainly knows how to get it right at the big events having won world outdoor and indoor bronze medals in the last 12 months.

Shot finals are often unpredictable affairs and with Latvia’s Märis Urtäns (21.63m), Poland’s Tomasz Majewski (21.25m) and Mikhnevich’s team-mate Pavel Lyzhyn (21.21m) all going beyond 21m this year, the medals could again be decided in the final round.

Urtäns is clearly one to watch as he improved his best by almost a metre to win the European Team Championships 2nd League last month, while Majewski has more than enough major championships experience to trouble the best. The Olympic gold and world silver medallist will be keen to add the European outdoor to his 2009 indoor title, especially after finishing only fifth at this year’s world indoors despite producing a Polish record of 21.20.

Others who shouldn’t be discounted include Bartels’ team-mate David Storl, Portugal’s new national record holder, Marco Fortes, and the Czech thrower, Antonín Zalsky, all beyond 20.50 in 2010.

Olympic discus champion Kanter is a man on mission

Like Mikhnevich, Gerd Kanter will be on a bit of a mission in Barcelona. The 2007 world and 2008 Olympic discus champion had to be satisfied with silver at the Göteborg championships four years ago as the great Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna dominated the competition.

But after a brilliant start to the season, Kanter’s form appears to be waning as Barcelona approaches. The Estonian’s world leading 71.45m effort heads the European rankings by more than 1.5m, but that came back in April and his next best, 69.83m, was in California on 6 May. More recently he has struggled to reach such distances and could only finish fifth at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on 3 July with 65.75m.

Gerd Kanter of Estonia

That could leave the door open for Piotr Malachowski, the world and Olympic silver medallist who’s now the man in form. After finishing second at the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen, he won the Eugene Diamond League, captured the Polish title on 8 July, and then broke the Polish record with 69.83m to win the British Grand Prix meeting in Gateshead.

Hungary’s Zoltán Kövágó and Germany’s Robert Harting, who finished first and second respectively at the Shanghai Diamond League (69.69 to 68.69), should also be in the hunt for medals. As could Bogdan Pishchalnikov, the Russian who has thrown 67.23m this year.

And we shouldn’t write off Róbert Fazekas, the 2002 champion who is returning to some sort of form after a couple of lean years, with a season’s best of 66.21m, nor Alekna, who made a late start to the season at the Monaco Diamond League.

There’ll also be huge home support for Mario Pestano. The Spanish record holder produced his best performance of the year in Barcelona on 2 June when he threw 66.90m. After finishing fourth in 2006, the world and Olympic finalist will be desperate to go one better in front of the partisan Spanish fans.

Charfreitag leads the field in the men’s hammer

Libor Charfreitag was a distant 14th in Göteborg four years ago after heaving his hammer a dismal 74.13m in the qualifying competition. This year, the Slovakian record holder arrives in Barcelona as world number one and favourite to take gold.

The title will surely be his if he can reproduce the form that saw him reach 80.59m in Walnutt, California, back in April, one of a series that included two throws of more than 80m, two of more than 79m and one of 78.83m. He also threw 78.86m to win his national title in June and won the European Team Championships 2nd League in Belgrade.

Pavel Kryvitski is the only other thrower to have exceeded 80m this year, his best of 80.44m coming at the Belarussian Cup in May. Along with Yury Shayunou (78.73) and Valeri Sviatokha (78.33), he’ll be keen to maintain his nation’s proud reputation at this event. They have a lot to live up to after Ivan Tikhon and Vadim Devyatovskiy took gold and bronze medals last time.

Hungary also has a proud hammer tradition and Krisztián Pars, whose best this year is 79.64m, will be looking to improve on sixth in 2006. Latvia’s Igors Sokolovs (79.09) and the German Markus Esser (78.87) are also potential medal hopes. The 2000 Olympic champion and world silver medallist Szymon Ziólkowski hasn’t shown great form yet this year but his 77.51m effort at the Polish championships shows that he is creeping back into contention.

It’s more of a contest for the silver in the men’s javelin

Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.

The form book suggests the javelin should be easier to call with the double Olympic and world champion Andreas Thorkildsen an overwhelming favourite to retain his title. The Norwegian has won all his contests in 2010 – his only defeat came at the SPAR European Team Championships when Germany’s Matthias De Zordo benefited from one of his rare off-days – and his world leading throw of 90.37m is more than two metres further than his nearest rival.

Surprisingly, that isn’t Tero Pitkämäki, the 2007 world champion, who was second to Thorkildsen in Göteborg, but Petr Frydrych whose 88.23m winning effort in Ostrava was a Czech under 23 record. A European under 23 silver medallist last summer, the 22-year-old was second at the Diamond League meetings in Shanghai, Oslo and New York, and should be challenging for a medal in Barcelona.

Pitkämäki has also been picking up minor placings on the circuit and with a season’s best of 86.92m, and the potential to throw much further, the Finn will be ready to pounce should Thorkildsen slip up.

As ever, the Finns will have a strong presence in this event with Teemu Wirkkala (86.53m and second to Thorkildsen in Paris) another medal hope. So too will the Czechs with Vítezslav Vesely (86.45m) and Jakub Vadlejch (84.47m) lining up alongside Frydrych.

Former world champion Sergey Makarov will lead Russia’s challenge but with a season’s best of 83.59 he is some way short of his best.

Note: The men’s hammer qualifications took place this morning.