When it comes to the women’s throwing competitions at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships, there could be a pretty familiar feel to the people on top of the podium because the favourites are the four defending champions who all lead the 2018 European lists.
Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk, Germany’s Christina Schwanitz and Belarus’ Tatsiana Khaladovich have 10 gold medals between them from their exploits on this European stage and now they are hungry for more.
And from that quartet, what a story it would be if Schwanitz makes it three gold medals in a row in the shot put, having returned to the sport this summer after giving birth to twins last year.
The host nation has a number of big hopes when the athletics programme begins in Berlin but the emotion could be the greatest if Schwanitz can spin and unleash her way to glory again after her European successes in Zurich 2014 and Amsterdam 2016.
In Halle in May, in her first event since the German Indoor Championships in February 2017, Schwanitz won with 19.39m and steadily she has improved upon that to reach a European-leading mark of 20.06m in Nurnberg at the German Championships on 20 July.
The title defence is on!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 20, 2018
Two-time European shot put champion Christina Schwanitz is rounding into excellent form ahead of Berlin, winning at the German Championships tonight with 20.06m. #TheMoment is coming! pic.twitter.com/uAyg4iaGjH
Smashing 20 metres showed that at 32, Schwanitz has lost none of her power and a repeat performance could be enough for gold again.
However, it will not be one-way traffic, even though the event is missing reigning world indoor champion Anita Marton. Last month, Poland’s Paulina Guba, with 19.38m and Belarus’ Aliona Dubitskaya, with 19.21m, produced their best marks of the summer to put glory on their horizon.
Turning the clock back four years to Zurich, Perkovic broke the Croatian discus record when her 71.08m secured her a hat-trick of European golds as she became the first woman to win this title on three occasions.
She made it four in a row with her throw of 69.97m in Amsterdam two years ago before last summer stretching her national record to 71.41m. A fifth successive title in Berlin would be an unprecedented achievement.
At the start of this year’s outdoor season, the 28-year-old threatened her national record with 71.38m at the IAAF Diamond League in Doha, a throw which remains the best in the world in 2018. Just for good measure, she has the next best five efforts too.
Who can defeat Perkovic? The host nation Germany have strong candidates who cannot be dismissed: Claudina Vita, Shanice Craft and Nadine Muller. In that order they are sit behind Perkovic on the European lists with best throws of 65.15m for Vita, 62.91m for Craft and 62.73m for Muller and all have a great chance for medals.
At 21, Vita is Germany’s new star of the event having won the European U20 title in 2015 and European U23 crown in 2017 while Craft, 25, has won bronze behind Perkovic at the last two European Championships. Muller, 32, was a world silver medallist in 2011 and knows what it is like to compete at a major event at this Olympic Stadium. She finished sixth at the World Championships in 2009.
If Wlodarczyk is looking for the perfect birthday present, it could arrive in Berlin where two days before she begins her bid for a fourth consecutive European hammer title, she will celebrate turning 33.
She is now looking to make the European podium for the fifth time in succession after bronze in Barcelona in 2010 before taking the two steps up to gold in 2012 (Helsinki), 2014 (Zurich) and 2016 (Amsterdam).
And while it is almost two years since she produced her last world record performance of 82.98m, Wlodarczyk has been knocking on the 80-metre door this summer with a world lead of 79.59m. The closest athlete to her is still three metres in arrears on the European lists.
Yet that will not deter European Throwing Cup winner Hanna Malyshik from Belarus, whose 2018 best is 74.26m, or even Wlodarczyk’s Polish teammate Joanna Fiodorow, who has thrown 74.25m this year. Other medal contenders are former world bronze medallist Alexandra Tavernier from France who has gone out to 74.09m and Olympic bronze medallist Sophie Hitchon from Great Britain who has a season’s best of 73.48m.
When Khaladovich took to the javelin runway in Amsterdam for her second throw in the final, history awaited 66.34m away as she achieved a Belarusian record along with European gold.
The 27-year-old is back to defend her title in the same mood as 2016. Not only she is the 2018 European leader, that mark of 67.47m from the Bislett Games in Oslo was also an improvement on her national record.
Germany’s Christin Hussong was the European U23 champion in 2015 and has thrown 66.36m this year while Martina Ratej from Slovenia, now 36, cannot be ruled out either in the stadium where she was 11th in the world championship in 2009. She threw 66.10m to become national champion last month.