2023 Throw Like Youri Clinic

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 I was 29 when I decided to call it a day with team sports and give Track and field a go. I had previously taken part in running as a young teen with Templemore Athletic Club but this time around I wanted to try something different. The hammer was an event I always liked to watch, especially when it was on for the Olympics.

When I was probably around 10, I remember mimicking the hammer by getting some rope and tying a stone onto the end of it. I just took a few swings around my head and let it off. I was amazed at how far it could travel compared to just throwing a stone. This is when the whole long radius effect became clear to me. Same stone longer rope further it went. One day on top of a cliff in a quarry I attached a stone to some rope maybe 9 feet long and made a few turns with tappy tap feet and the distance it travelled off the long radius was amazing. So, once I started to make inroads on training for the hammer long radius was already figured out from my younger days rope and stone throwing. 

So, I needed a technical model to mimick for my hammer training plan. So, I googled the Hammer Throw world record holder and that's how I first came across the greatest hammer thrower of all time Youri Sedykh. I watched every single video of Youri on YouTube. I then came across the 1984 video of Youri and Sergei throwing in Cork where they broke the world record 5 times between them. 

 I was also at the same time realising more and more through research that Ireland had a long and ancient history in hammer throwing. I learned all about the Irish whales, who were Irish born and emigrated to America and represented the states and Canada at many Olympic games winning countless medals in the Throws events during the early 1900's. John Flanagan, James Mitchell, Pat Mcdonald, Paddy Ryan, Martin Sheridan, Matt McGrath, and Con Walsh made up the world renowned Irish Whales. To my amazement the origins of hammer throwing can be traced back to the Tailteann games held in Tara Ireland around 1829 BC. A few centuries later Cuchulainn is said to have thrown the wooden handle with boulder attached further than any mortal. So, as I was learning all this amazing history I really felt part of something uniquely Irish and I felt proud to be part of a great tradition and legacy of Irish Hammer Throwing spanning centuries and millennia. 

My self-taught approach to hammer throwing had its limits and I knew I needed help. I got great pointers and drills to practice by Phil Conway, Sean Egan, and John O'Farell along the way. I then spent a year travelling upto Brian Akers once a week for hammer training. Brian is a really great coach and has decades of experience. I learned a lot from our training sessions. How to work with and catch a steep ball, how to let the ball run long on the left. How to feel staying back on the left from Brian throwing the ball in. How to get heel in/knee out on the left leg, establishing rhythm in the throw and a lot more aspects of throwing. I also attended a great Hammer workshop by Paddy McGrath in Dublin, Paddy threw hammer for Ireland at the Sydney Olympics and is coaching Rudy Winkler along with a great crop of hammer throwers. Paddy had good phrases for highlighting important points on hammer like 'drills give you skills', 'speed is what you need' and 'corkscrew the right toe into the ground' etc. Paddy had good stick drills teaching the athlete how to keep the ball long on the left in each turn. 

So, all these encounters really helped me along the way during my hammer throwing development.

Then I came across Carl Shields website throwlikeyouri.com and it really helped clarify so much on Youri's technique. With detailed videos on each aspect of Youri's throw along with drills and specific weight exercises Carl's website was a treasure chest for all things Youri. Whenever I can find time I'm watching videos from Carl's website and going over videos as well on aspects I find difficult to execute in my own Throws. 

One aspect I don't find explained or discussed is how Youri tucks his right heel towards his glute in each single support phase. Nearly all throwers hold/lock knee angle in single support phase but Youri is an exception where he clearly after right foot take off continues bringing heel to glute. My interpretation of this movement is it prevents the right foot kicking out past the knee on the catch. It seems that due to the long movement back towards the glute it takes longer to come forward which puts the right toe in an excellent catch position inside the right knee. The right foot then becomes an action (tuck) and reaction (extend) movement. I'm sure Youri just did this without intentionally doing it. It was his own individual style of right foot action. But I'm sure Carl will shed some light and insight on Youri's right foot action after takeoff.

Regards 

John Dwyer 

The son of an Egyptian father and a Tunisian mother, Mohsen was born in Tunis, where he spent his early life. His mother, a former long jumper, encouraged her 2 sons to try athletics, but Mohsen wasn't interested. Things changed when he saw his  brother Sadak starting to win Tunisia's youth titles and he decided to give it a try too. Following in his brother's footsteps, Mohsen started with the javelin, but it became rapidly clear he had no potential in the event.

 Mohsen switched to the shot put but didn't experience good feelings with that event either.

His brother then told him "Why don't you try the hammer?" and a career was launched. "From the first day, I knew, this is my event," Mohsen remembers.

Things then went quite fast for the younger Anani who broke the Egyptian youth record after only three months of training and earned his first selection in the national team. After the 1999 national youth championships he was recruited by former African shot put champion Nagy Assad, who was by then setting up a throwing school in Egypt that also included discus thrower Omar el Ghazaly and shot putter Yasser Fathy. The young Mohsen was very proud to be part of it.

 In 2000, Anani placed 3rd at the Pan Arab Junior Championships in Damascus (51.41 m) and in 2001he was 2nd at the African Junior Championships in Mauritius (57.11 m), with the senior implement in both cases. But his first outings on the  world scene turned out to be frustrating experiences. The young thrower was among the top 6 entrants at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Debrecen, but couldn't do better than 65.38m, finishing in

19th place and failing to advance to the final -a big disappointment.

The following year he threw 71.40m, with the 6kg implement in April in Cairo but recorded 3 fouls at the World Juniors in Kingston. His coach tried to comfort him explaining he was still young and would still have the opportunity to compete another time at the World Juniors, as he was only 17. He then took 2nd place at the Arab Junior Championships in Cairo in September (70.04m -6kg) behind Kuwait's Ali AI-Zankawi, who is still dominating the event on the Arab scene at the moment.

 In Garoua, Cameroon (68.41 m - 6kg) and improved his best with the 6kg to 75.71 m. Alongside his junior career he also started to draw attention to himself in the senior ranks. Early September, he placed 4th at the Arab Championships (68.30m). He then defeated the national champion for the first time, claiming his first national title (68.79m), which earned him a selection for the All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria, in October, where he placed 5th (67.24m)

2004 was a major year for Anani's career, with a second participation at the World Junior Championships. He came to Grosseto with a 77.23m best, and this time the young Egyptian lived up to his promises, claiming a silver medal thanks to a 72.98m effort. Early August he went above ?Om with the senior implement for the first time (70.41m on 5 August in Cairo) and set a new African junior record with the senior implement {72.50m) on 22 August in Cairo. In October, he clinched a silver medal at the Pan Arab Games in Algiers {71.65m). The season wasn't over yet, as Anani cherished another dream: in his last two months as a junior, he wanted to take a shot at the World junior record that stood at 81.34m. From 22 November to 28 December, he competed at home with the 6kg hammer no fewer than 8 times, coming short of his goal, but eventually improving his national record to 79.56m.

 Mohsen set a national record and a B-qualifier (75.31m) on 22 July, three days before the entry deadline. There, he finished 23rd of the qualifications with 71.78m. 

 He then moved to the United States, where he was enrolled as a student at Virginia Tech. The program was supposed to last 4 years, but Mohsen cut the experience short after a year, because the different training methods did not work out for him.  He set his PB in the 35# Wt.  22.95m at the 2006 ACC Championships. And finished 4th in the NCAA Championships and brought precious points to the team but his performances had dropped from 75m to 68m, a situation that was far from satisfying for an athlete who had much higher ambitions.   He set his PB in the 35# Wt.  22.95m at the 2006 ACC Championships in Virginia Tech.

 In summer 2006, he thus came back to Egypt and the Cairo Higher Institute where he graduated in business in 2009. He then placed 3rd at the African Championships in Mauritius (69.22m) before ending his season with 72.00m at the end of August in Cairo.

In 2007, the Egyptian progressively worked his way back to his previous level, recording a performance of 74.57m early July in Cairo. He then travelled to Algiers for the All Africa Games {2nd with 72.00m) and to Bangkok for the World University Games (4th with 72.66), before the World championships in Osaka where he placed 19th in the qualifications {72.93m). The season was not over, however, with the Pan Arab Games at home at the end of November. Preparing for the event, Anani set a new national record of 76.00m on 8 October. He went on to claim the Arab title in a rare defeat of Kuwait's AI-Zankawi (74.22m to 74.02m).

2008 started with a good opening (75.20m at the end of February). There were another couple of 73m throws but then the performances dropped around 70 meters. At the Beijing Olympics, Anani suffered from blood pressure problems and had 3 fouls, unable to record a valid throw.

The following year again started with good performances on home soil (a series of 74.82, 75.97, 75.48, 76.40 in Cairo from March to May, 76.40m being a new national record and the best performance in Africa that season), but there were more difficulties to reach a similar level, during the summer, abroad. There was a 5th place at the Mediterranean Games in Pescara (71.58), a 10th place at the World University Games in Beograd {69.91) and a 20th place at the World Championships in Berlin (72.68). The year however ended on a better note in October with a victory at the Francophone Games in Beirut {71.30m) and a silver medal at the Arab Championships in Damascus (74.31m).

 2010 marked a breakthrough as his new national record of 77.36m, set on 29 March, propelled him for the first time in the world Top 20 of the year (at the end of August, Anani is ranked 19th). The Egyptian also clinched his first continental crown (74.72m at the African Championships in Nairobi), ending a decade-long domination by South African veteran Chris Harmse and earning his first selection to represent Africa at the Continental Cup.