Hammer throw

The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin.
The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consists of a metal ball attached by a steel wire to a grip. These three components are each separate and can move independently. Both the size and weight of the ball vary between men's and women's events. The men's hammer weighs for college and professional meets; the women's hammer weighs.

History

Tradition traces it to the Tailteann Games in Tara, Ireland, around the year 1830 BC. Some time later the Celtic warrior Culchulainn reputedly took a chariot axle with a wheel still attached, spun it around and hurled it a long way. The wheel was later replaced by a rock with a wooden handle attached. A sledgehammer began to be used for the sport in Scotland and England during the Middle Ages. In current times, the hammer has changed to the more modern 16 lb. ball attached to a wire and a handle, but the Scottish hammer throw as seen in Highland Games still feature the older style of hammer throw with the rock and the solid wood handle.
While the men's hammer throw has been part of the Olympics since 1900, the International Association of Athletics Federations did not start ratifying women's marks until 1995. Women's hammer throw was first included in the Olympics at the 2000 summer games in Sydney, Australia, after having been included in the World Championships a year earlier.

Competition

The men's hammer weighs and the women's weighs, with the wire in either case no more than in length. Like the other throwing events, the competition is decided by who can throw the implement the farthest.
The throwing motion starts with the thrower swinging the hammer back-and-forth about two times to generate momentum. The thrower then makes three, four or five full rotations using a complex heel-toe foot movement, spinning the hammer in a circular path and increasing its angular velocity with each rotation. Rather than spinning the hammer horizontally, it is instead spun in a plane that angles up towards the direction in which it will be launched. The thrower releases the hammer as its velocity is upward and toward the target.
Throws are made from a throwing circle. The thrower is not allowed to step outside the throwing circle before the hammer has landed and may only enter and exit from the rear of the throwing circle. The hammer must land within a 34.92º throwing sector that is centered on the throwing circle. The sector angle was chosen because it provides a sector whose bounds are easy to measure and lay out on a field. A violation of the rules results in a foul and the throw not being counted.
the men's hammer world record is held by Yuriy Sedykh, who threw at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany on 30 August. The world record for the women's hammer is held by Anita Włodarczyk, who threw during the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial on 28 August 2016. Sedykh's 1986 world record has been noted for its longevity, and for dating from "a time when track and field was starting to realize the scale of performance-enhancing drug use". According to Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, Sedykh was a heavy user of steroids, which Sedykh denied.
The throwing distance depends on the velocity and height at which the hammer is released, but also on other factors that are not under the athlete's control. In particular, Earth's rotation affects it via the location's latitude and to a lesser extent also via the throw's azimuth. According to a 2023 study, such effects are large enough that the top 20 world-record rankings for both men and women at the time could somewhat change if they were adjusted for latitude and azimuth.

Safety issues

Hammer throwing has been described as involving "inherent danger . Athletes, coaches, and spectators participating in the event are at risk; steel hammers are hurled through the air at great speeds, far distances, and sometimes difficult to spot in flight." For example, hammer throws resulted in four deaths in Europe in 2000 alone, and have caused deaths and permanent brain damage injuries in the United States too.
To mitigate such risks, a C-shaped "hammer cage" was introduced, which is built around the throwing circle, preventing the hammer from flying off in unwanted directions. In 2004, the IAAF changed its rules to increase the mandatory height of hammer cages to 10m and reduce their "danger zone" angle to around 53°. The change also moved the cage gates further away from the throwing circle, thus reducing the risk of a misdirected hammer bouncing back on the thrower.

All-time top 25

Men

Correct as of September 2025.

Mark

Athlete

Nation

Date

Place

Yuriy Sedykh

30 August 1986

Stuttgart

Sedykh #2

22 June 1986

Tallinn

Sedykh #3

3 July 1984

Cork

Sergey Litvinov

3 July 1986

Dresden

Litvinov #2

30 August 1986

Stuttgart

Sedykh #4

11 August 1986

Budapest

Sedykh #5

13 July 1984

London

Sedykh #6

17 August 1984

Moscow

Litvinov #3

3 July 1984

Cork

Litvinov #4

11 July 1986

London

Sedykh #7

4 September 1988

Moscow

Sedykh #8

20 August 1984

Budapest

Sedykh #9

3 July 1986

Dresden

Vadim Devyatovskiy

21 July 2005

Minsk

Litvinov #5

10 September 1986

Rome

Koji Murofushi

29 June 2003

Prague

Litvinov #6

26 September 1988

Seoul

Sedykh #10

9 July 1986

Moscow

Ethan Katzberg

16 September 2025

Tokyo

Litvinov #7

9 July 1986

Moscow

Igor Astapkovich

Annulled marks

Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus also threw 86.73 in Brest on 3 July 2005. This performance was annulled due to doping offences.
Women
Correct as of September 2025.

		Mark	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place
1	1		Anita Włodarczyk		28 August 2016	Warsaw
	2		Włodarczyk #2		29 July 2017	Władysławowo
	3		Włodarczyk #3		15 August 2016	Rio de Janeiro
	4		Włodarczyk #4		1 August 2015	Władysławowo
	5		Włodarczyk #5		27 August 2015	Beijing
	6		Włodarczyk #6		23 July 2017	Białystok
2	7		Camryn Rogers		15 September 2025	Tokyo
3	8		DeAnna Price		26 June 2021	Eugene
	9		Włodarczyk #7		12 July 2016	Władysławowo
4	10		Brooke Andersen		20 May 2023	Tucson
	11		Andersen #2		4 May 2024	Tucson
	12		Włodarczyk #8		15 August 2017	Warsaw
	12		Andersen #3		20 April 2023	Charlottesville
	14		Włodarczyk #9		6 May 2017	Doha
	15		Włodarczyk #10		27 June 2017	Ostrava
	16		Włodarczyk #11		18 June 2016	Szczecin
	17		Włodarczyk #12		22 July 2018	Lublin
	18		Włodarczyk #13		31 August 2014	Berlin
	19		Włodarczyk #14		21 May 2016	Halle
	20		Włodarczyk #15		29 May 2016	Forbach
5	21		Betty Heidler		21 May 2011	Halle
	22		Andersen #4		24 May 2025	Tucson
	23		Andersen #5		8 June 2025	Lucca
	24		Andersen #6		30 April 2022	Tucson
	25		Andersen #7		17 July 2022	Eugene
6			Rachel Richeson		11 April 2025	Ramona
7			Tatyana Lysenko		5 July 2012	Cheboksary
8			Janee' Kassanavoid		21 May 2022	Tucson
9			Gwen Berry		8 June 2018	Chorzów
10			Wang Zheng		29 March 2014	Chengdu
11			Zhao Jie		15 September 2025	Tokyo
12			Zhang Wenxiu		28 September 2014	Incheon
13			Aksana Miankova		29 June 2008	Minsk
14			Gulfiya Agafonova		12 June 2006	Tula
15			Zhang Jiale		2 August 2025	Quzhou
16			Krista Tervo		11 June 2025	Lahti
17			Oksana Kondratyeva		30 June 2013	Zhukovskiy
18			Hanna Skydan		23 August 2023	Budapest
19			Silja Kosonen		15 March 2025	Nicosia
20			Martina Hrašnová		16 May 2009	Trnava
21			Malwina Kopron		26 August 2017	Taipei City
22			Kamila Skolimowska		11 May 2007	Doha
23			Mariya Bespalova		23 June 2012	Zhukovsky
24			Volha Tsander		21 July 2005	Minsk
25			Yekaterina Khoroshikh		24 June 2006	Zhukovsky