Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk set a world record to claim the Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro last summer and she could very well do the same at the World Championships in London which begin next Friday.
Wlodarczyk threw 82.29m to claim the Olympic title last summer but that mark was quickly supplanted by the existing world record of 82.98m set on home soil in Warsaw at the end of August.
But that mark is looking increasingly vulnerable as Wlodarczyk put together another phenomenal series today in Cetniewo in a meeting dedicated to the late Kamila Skolimowska. Wlodarczyk had five successive throws over the 80m line, including a second round throw of 82.87m which was a mere eleven centimetres shy of her world record.
After opening her series with 80.42m - a mark which nobody else in the history of the event has surpassed - Wlodarczyk followed her massive second round effort with throws of 80.69m and 80.73m before concluding her competition with 81.63m in the fifth round followed by a foul.
It has taken a handful of competitions for Wlodarczyk to find her very best form but based on this showing, Wlodarczyk could quite possibly create more history by taking the world record into 83m territory before the end of the season.
Poland will be looking to claim multiple medals in the women's hammer in London and a clean sweep is certainly not out of the question. Joanna Fiodorow became the third Polish thrower to surpass the 75m line this season, improving her lifetime best to 75.09m to move up to sixth on the world lists and one place behind teammate Malwina Kopron with 75.11m.