Anita Włodarczyk

Anita Włodarczyk (born 8 August 1985) is a Polish hammer thrower and the world record holder with 79.58 m.

Włodarczyk won her first national U23 championships in 2007, and went on to compete in the 2007 European Athletics U23 Championships, although she did not progress beyond the qualifying round. She finished sixth in the hammer throw competition at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Włodarczyk qualified for the 2008 World Athletics Final and won a bronze medal. The following year, she took part in the 2009 European Team Championships, winning her first gold medal at a major international competition.

Włodarczyk achieved a personal best throw of 76.20 metres, achieved in 30 May 2009 in Biała Podlaska, beating her previous record by 81 cm and improve 76.59 m in Golden Spike Ostrava. Prior to the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, she produced a national record-breaking performance in Cottbus, winning the competition with a world-leading 77.20 m throw. This was fourth longest throw by a woman in hammer throw.

On 22 August 2009 during the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany Włodarczyk set a world record with a throw of 77.96 metres (255 ft 9 in). Her season ended prematurely when she twisted her left ankle during her celebration.

She recovered and returned to competition with a performance at the Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar in April 2010 and she easily won her event with a throw of 75.13 m. In excellent form, she then proceeded to break her existing world record with a 78.30 m hammer throw at the Enea Cup in Bydgoszcz on 6 June 2010. She won the bronze at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and was ranked second overall for the season in the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, finishing behind Betty Heidler. She finished outside of the medals at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, coming fifth overall.

At the start of her 2012 season, she came third at the Ostrava Golden Spike and runner-up at the Prefontaine Classic.

For her sport achievements, she received: Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (5th Class) in 2009.

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