Czechia’s Volodymyr Myslyvcuk defeated a stellar field, including two Olympic medallists, to take the biggest win of his career so far in the men’s hammer at the 2026 European Throwing Cup in Nicosia on Sunday (15).
And the Ukrainian-born Czech, who is a bricklayer by trade, made a sizeable improvement on his previous lifetime best of 78.03m. Making the most of the dry throwing circle at the start of the competition, Myslyvcuk added more than two-and-a-half metres to this mark with his first ever 80 metre-plus throw with 80.69m on his first attempt.
Not only was this a world lead at this very early juncture of the season, this was also the first time since 2009 that a thrower has broken the 80 metre-barrier at the European Throwing Cup.
Last year’s winner Bence Halasz began his series with 79.48m before also breaching the 80 metre-barrier on his second attempt with 80.31m. This set up the prospect of a tantalising head-to-head with four rounds remaining but with the conditions worsening significantly, the Olympic silver medallist couldn’t apply more pressure on Myslyvcuk’s lead.
The 11 throwers were buffered by strong winds and near-horizontal rain but Iceland’s 11-time national champion Hilmar Orn Jonsson did shake up the order by moving into the medal fray in the fourth round to emulate his teammate Gudrun Karitas Hallgrimsdottir who won bronze in the women's hammer yesterday.
He smashed his six-year-old Icelandic record with 78.03m to move into third, displacing Ukraine’s Olympic bronze medallist Mykhailo Kokhan who dropped down to fourth albeit with a creditable mark of 77.79m on his season's debut.
But the plaudits went to Myslyvcuk who has suddenly emerged as a plausible medal contender at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham from 10-16 August.
"I am feeling great after winning the European Throwing Cup and, of course, achieving a new personal best of over 80 metres. I made several changes this year, and I am very pleased to see them reflected in this result.
"For this summer, my goal is to compete for the podium at the European Championships in Birmingham and to aim for medals in every competition I take part in," he said.
Albania’s Markelo Mema won the second group with a lifetime best of 75.88m which placed him seventh overall after the results of the two pools were amalgamated.