European Athletics Championships 1998 / Women's hammer throw

17th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Hammer throw
gender	Women
Attendees	35 athletes from 19 countries
venue	Budapest
Competition location	Népstadion
Competition phase	August 21 (qualifying) August 22 (final)
Medalists Mihaela Melinte ( ROM )   Olga Kusenkowa ( RUS )   Kirsten Münchow ( GER )

Népstadion in Budapest

The women's hammer throw at the 1998 European Athletics Championships was held on August 21 and 22, 1998 in the Népstadion in the Hungarian capital, Budapest .

The competition was part of a major international championship for the first time. With 35 female throwers, the number of participants was astonishingly high for the young new discipline.

The Romanian world record holder Mihaela Melinte became European champion . She won ahead of the Russian Olga Kusenkowa . Bronze went to the German Kirsten Münchow .

Existing records

World record	73.14 m	Mihaela Melinte	Poiana Brașov , Romania	July 16, 1998
European record
Championship record	Competition for the first time in the program of European championships

• The following EM records were set at the end of the competitions in the respective qualifying groups on August 21:
  • 64.10 m - Olga Kusenkowa , qualification group A.
  • 68.65 m - Mihaela Melinte , qualification group B 
• In the final on August 22nd, Mihaela Melinte set a new four-year European Championship record with 71.17 m . 

qualification

August 21, 1998

35 participants competed in two groups for the qualifying round. The qualification distance for direct entry into the final was 61.50 m. Nine athletes exceeded this mark (highlighted in light blue). The final field was filled with the three next placed athletes to twelve throwers (highlighted in light green). So finally 59.15 m had to be achieved for the final.

Group A

Manuela Montebrun - at the beginning of a later successful career - was eliminated from the qualification with her 54.13 m

Ivana Brkljačić remained in qualification without a valid attempt

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)
1	Olga Kusenkova	Russia	64.10 CR
2	Kamila Skolimowska	Poland	62.72
3	Lyudmila Hubkina	Belarus	62.46
4th	Lyn Sprules	Great Britain	60.64
5	Manuela Priemer	Germany	59.15
6th	Sini Pöyry	Finland	58.61
7th	Tatiana Konstantinova	Russia	58.35
8th	Cristina Pechita	Romania	56.91
9	Júlia Tudja	Hungary	55.90
10	Iryna Sekacheva	Ukraine	55.37
11	Cécile Lignot	France	54.68
12	Dolores Pedrares	Spain	54.34
13	Barbara Sugár	Hungary	54.29
14th	Manuela Montebrun	France	54.13
15th	Maria Tranchina	Italy	53.87
16	Nicola Coffey	Ireland	52.63
17th	Sónia Martins	Portugal	50.70
NM	Ivana Brkljačić	Croatia	ogV

Group B

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)
1	Mihaela Melinte	Romania	68.65 CR
2	Kirsten Münchow	Germany	66.81
3	Sviatlana Sudak	Belarus	64.12
4th	Alla Davydova	Russia	62.69
5	Simone Mathes	Germany	62.25
6th	Katalin Divós	Hungary	61.62
7th	Lorraine Shaw	Great Britain	61.11
8th	Agnieszka Pogroszewska	Poland	58.88
9	Florence Ezeh	France	58.72
10	Jolanta Borawska	Poland	57.79
11	Mia Strömmer	Finland	57.40
12	Ester Balassini	Italy	56.42
13	Jennifer Petit	Belgium	53.63
14th	Unn Merete Lie	Norway	53.01
15th	Nesrin Kaya	Turkey	51.70
16	Charlotte Wåhlin	Denmark	50.62
NM	Olivia Kelleher	Ireland	ogV

final

Kamila Skolimowska took seventh place - she was Olympic champion in 2000 . 2002 EM -Second and 2006 European Championship -Third before 2009 at the age of 26 years at a pulmonary embolism died

August 22, 1998

Note: The symbol "x" means "invalid".

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)	Trial series of medalists
				1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt
1	Mihaela Melinte	Romania	71.17 CR	68.41	66.19	69.02	x	70.63	71.17
2	Olga Kusenkova	Russia	69.28	69.23	69.28	63.72	x	x	x
3	Kirsten Münchow	Germany	65.61	x	61.28	x	61.03	x	65.61
4th	Simone Mathes	Germany	64.05	56.59	63.60	x	x	62.96	64.05
5	Katalin Divós	Hungary	63.74	63.74	58.90	x	60.04	61.93	x
6th	Lyudmila Hubkina	Belarus	63.03	61.15	x	x	x	x	63.03
7th	Kamila Skolimowska	Poland	62.68
8th	Alla Davydova	Russia	62.36
9	Sviatlana Sudak	Belarus	60.14
10	Manuela Priemer	Germany	59.57
11	Lorraine Shaw	Great Britain	58.19
12	Lyn Sprules	Great Britain	57.68

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Budapest 1998 at european-athletics.org, accessed October 24, 2019
• European Championship 1998 Budapest, Women Hammer Throw on todor66.com, accessed October 24, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1998 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed October 24, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Women Hammer Throw European Championship 1998 Budapest, p. 478 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on October 24, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1998, hammer throw women on sportschau.de, accessed on October 24, 2019
• 17th European Athletics Championships 1998 in Budapest, Hungary from ifosta.de, accessed on October 24, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. Hammer Throw Women , accessed October 24, 2019