News29 Mar 2011


Big shots Cantwell, Majewski and Smith to square off in Hengelo's central square - IAAF World Challenge

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22.22m meet record for Christian Cantwell in Zagreb (© Zagreb meeting organisers)

World champion Christian Cantwell and Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski will take on Dutch national record holder Rutger Smith in a city square Shot Put competition at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games - IAAF World Challenge - in Hengelo.

The competition (28 May), held on the day before the meeting's main programme on 29 May, will take place on the Burg. Jansenplein, located in Hengelo's city centre, giving fans yet another opportunity to witness some of the world's finest shot putters up close.

Cantwell, a three-time World champion indoors and the reigning champion outdoors, has a career best of 22.54m from 2004, but last year, a season in which the 30-year-old American claimed the inaugural Samsung Diamond Race trophy in the event, reached 22.41m, the farthest toss in the world in 2010.

Majewski, who beat Cantwell to Olympic Gold in Beijing in 2008, took silver behind the American at the 2009 World Championships. In Hengelo last year, he reached 21.00m even, finishing second to Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus, who threw 21.01m. Later in the summer at the European Championships, the Pole again finished just one centimeter behind Mikhnevich.

Smith, the silver medallist winner at the 2005 World Championships and bronze winner in 2007, returned to competition this indoor season after two-and-a-half years of injury woes. For him the FBK-Games will provide a good opportunity to measure himself as he returns to form. The Dutch record holder at 21.61m since 2006, is looking forward to the confrontation with Cantwell and Majewski but also to the special location where the event will be held.

"This is a great initiative," Smith said. "In a stadium there is always some distance between the Shot Put athletes and the crowd. It is great when the crowd can come so close to the arena."

Organisers for the IAAF

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