2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw

The women's discus throw at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 19 and August 21.

Reigning Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton was the favourite for the gold. She had set a career best and had the four longest throws of any athlete that season, although she had not competed since late June. Franka Dietzsch was another prominent performer: the 41-year-old was the defending champion and was making her 10th appearance of the tournament, but a weak season had underlined her waning powers. Cuban Yarelis Barrios looked set to build upon her World and Olympic silver medals from the last two years and Aimin Song had also performed well during the season. Veteran athletes Nicoleta Grasu and Natalya Sadova were also favoured to be among the top performers of the competition.

Chinese athletes led the qualification rounds with Ma Xuejun and Song topping their respective groups. Newcomers Żaneta Glanc and Dani Samuels rounded out the top four qualifiers. Dietzsch sole legal throw of the competition was not enough for qualification, leaving Nadine Müller as the only host competitor to make the final. Brown Trafton edged into the final, needing all three throws to qualify.

In the final, Grasu and Barrios quickly established themselves with marks of 65.20 m and 64.44 m, respectively, in the first two throws. Samuels, Glanc and Müller proved themselves on their third attempts, each throwing over 62 metres. Brown Trafton and Ma Xuejun both threw poorly and were among the four athletes eliminated after three throws. Personal bests of 64.76 and 65.44 m in the fourth and fifth round put Samuels in the lead. On the final throws, Song threw only enough to move up to fifth place, leader Grasu fouled but Barrios responded, although her mark of 65.31 m guaranteed her only second place.

Samuels was a surprise winner: at 21 years old, she was the youngest ever World discus champion, and she had progressed from Youth champion, to Junior winner, to the senior title in just four years. Barrios had matched her silver medal achievement at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and Grasu's bronze was her fourth medal in her career at the World Championships.

Medalists

Gold	Dani Samuels  Australia (AUS)
Silver	Yarelis Barrios  Cuba (CUB)
Bronze	Nicoleta Grasu  Romania (ROM)

Records

World record	Gabriele Reinsch (GDR)	76.80	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	7 July 1988
Championship record	Martina Hellmann (GDR)	71.62	Rome, Italy	31 August 1987
World leading	Stephanie Brown Trafton (USA)	66.21	San Mateo, United States	24 May 2009
African record	Elizna Naudé (RSA)	64.87	Stellenbosch, South Africa	2 March 2003
Asian record	Xiao Yanling (CHN)	71.68	Beijing, China	14 March 1992
North American record	Hilda Ramos (CUB)	70.88	Havana, Cuba	8 May 1992
South American record	Elisângela Adriano (BRA)	61.96	São Leopoldo, Brazil	21 May 1998
European record	Gabriele Reinsch (GDR)	76.80	Neubrandenburg, East Germany	7 July 1988
Oceanian record	Daniela Costian (AUS)	68.72	Auckland, New Zealand	22 January 1994

Qualification standards

A standard	B standard
62.00 m	58.50 m

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
August 19, 2009	10:10	Qualification
August 21, 2009	20:20	Final

Results

Qualification

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 61.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Rank	Group	Athlete	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	Result	Notes
1	A	Ma Xuejun	China	63.38			63.38	Q, SB
2	B	Song Aimin	China	x	62.80		62.80	Q
3	B	Dani Samuels	Australia	62.67			62.67	Q
4	B	Żaneta Glanc	Poland	49.79	62.43		62.43	Q
5	A	Yarelis Barrios	Cuba	x	x	62.19	62.19	Q
6	A	Sandra Perković	Croatia	61.02	x	62.16	62.16	Q
7	B	Natalya Sadova	Russia	61.94			61.94	Q
8	A	Nicoleta Grasu	Romania	60.25	61.78		61.78	Q
9	A	Nadine Müller	Germany	61.63			61.63	Q
10	B	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	58.36	61.53		61.53	Q
11	A	Stephanie Brown Trafton	United States	60.15	57.44	61.23	61.23	q
12	B	Aretha Thurmond	United States	60.09	59.09	61.08	61.08	q
13	B	Xu Shaoyang	China	59.67	61.02	57.96	61.02	SB
14	B	Yarisley Collado	Cuba	59.56	59.23	60.37	60.37
15	B	Seema Antil	India	59.85	x	x	59.85	SB
16	A	Elizna Naudé	South Africa	59.46	59.46	59.67	59.67	SB
17	A	Wioletta Potępa	Poland	x	59.54	x	59.54
18	B	Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová	Czech Republic	57.87	58.37	59.52	59.52
19	A	Dragana Tomašević	Serbia	58.32	59.30	59.38	59.38
20	A	Svetlana Ivanova-Saykina	Russia	59.31	x	58.45	59.31
21	B	Joanna Wiśniewska	Poland	x	58.85	x	58.85
22	A	Becky Breisch	United States	58.50	x	58.08	58.50
23	B	Franka Dietzsch	Germany	x	x	58.44	58.44
24	B	Vera Begić	Croatia	54.63	x	58.25	58.25
25	A	Yania Ferrales	Cuba	57.71	55.84	58.24	58.24
26	B	Anna Söderberg	Sweden	56.38	57.92	x	57.92
27	A	Kateryna Karsak	Ukraine	56.79	x	x	56.79
28	A	Krishna Poonia	India	x	x	56.75	56.75
29	A	Elisângela Adriano	Brazil	54.99	52.00	55.75	55.75
30	B	Rocío Comba	Argentina	52.62	54.69	x	54.69
31	B	Zinaida Sendriute	Lithuania	52.85	54.55	x	54.55
32	A	Sofia Larsson	Sweden	51.87	x	54.28	54.28
33	A	Olena Antonova	Ukraine	x	54.28	x	54.28
34	B	Li Wen-Hua	Chinese Taipei	53.88	49.91	52.49	53.88
35	B	Kazai Suzanne Kragbé	Ivory Coast	52.24	53.84	52.79	53.84	NR
36	A	Venera Getova	Bulgaria	53.33	x	x	53.33
37	B	Tereapii Tapoki	Cook Islands	x	45.29	x	45.29	SB
	A	Ellina Zvereva	Belarus	x	x	x	NM
	B	Iryna Yatchenko	Belarus	x	x	x	NM
	B	Natalya Fokina-Semenova	Ukraine				DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	Result	Notes
	Dani Samuels	Australia	x	59.05	62.71	64.76	65.44	x	65.44	PB
	Yarelis Barrios	Cuba	64.44	63.87	61.17	x	x	65.31	65.31	SB
	Nicoleta Grasu	Romania	x	65.20	62.38	60.68	63.41	x	65.20	SB
4	Zaneta Glanc	Poland	58.69	59.83	62.66	x	57.71	x	62.66
5	Song Aimin	China	51.69	60.50	61.78	x	61.39	62.42	62.42
6	Nadine Müller	Germany	57.53	57.62	62.04	60.40	x	x	62.04
7	Natalya Sadova	Russia	60.70	61.78	59.31	60.44	58.26	61.44	61.78
8	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	59.80	60.92	60.89	x	59.90	59.69	60.92
9	Sandra Perković	Croatia	x	60.77	x				60.77
10	Aretha Thurmond	United States	x	59.89	59.88				59.89
11	Ma Xuejun	China	58.79	x	58.58				58.79
12	Stephanie Brown Trafton	United States	58.53	x	57.94				58.53

References

General

• Discus throw results. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-21.

Specific