The spread of COVID-19 has decimated the global sporting calendar and the European Throwing Cup which was due to take place in Leiria, Portugal on 21-22 March was one of the many events to be either cancelled or postponed.
World and European bronze medallist Bence Halasz from Hungary would have been one of the leading aspirants for victory in the hammer in Leiria but like so many athletes around the globe, the 22-year-old has been forced to adapt his training and competition programmes accordingly.
“We have talked about stopping training only when public transport stops. It's scary, I don't want it to be taken lightly, but it's hard to say. We do our business as if everything was okay and try to take care of ourselves,” Halasz told the Hungarian Federation on how he is dealing with these unprecedented events.
Halasz did find a local event to compete in on Saturday (21) afternoon. A fortnight after winning the Hungarian Winter Throwing Championships in Szombathely with a season’s best of 76.66m, Halasz approached that mark at the same venue with a winning effort of 76.35m.
In the women’s contest, former world U18 champion Reka Gyuratz topped the standings in Szombathely with 67.85m.
Local throwing competitions continue to take place albeit on a very small scale in Sweden. Nine throwers - six men and three women - took part in a low-key discus competition in Vaxjo on Saturday which was added to the calendar as a replacement for the European Throwing Cup.
In cold and windy conditions, European fourth placer Simon Pettersson produced four throws over the 61 metre-line with his best effort skimming the turf at 62.87m.