Wlodarczyk wins women hammer throw gold

Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk smashed her own world record on her way to victory in the women’s hammer throw on Monday-four years after being denied gold by Russian dope cheat Tatyana Lysenko.

Wlodarczyk, widely regarded as the greatest women’s hammer thrower of all-time, heaved a monumental 82.29m on her third attempt to crush the competition at the Olympic Stadium.

Zhang Wenxiu of China took silver with a throw of 76.75m while Britain’s Sophie Hitchon claimed bronze with 74.54.

Wlodarczyk’s winning effort was more than one metre further than her own previous world record of 81.08 set in 2015.

With her fifth attempt of the final, the 31-year-old produced the second longest throw in history, 81.74, which would also have beaten her 2015 world record.

It clinched a deserved victory for Wlodarczyk, who was effectively robbed of gold by Russia’s Lysenko in the 2012 Olympic final.

Lysenko, who had already served a two-year doping ban for steroid use before competing in 2012, was one of dozens of athletes whose frozen samples from the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki were re-tested retrospectively.

In April, track and field’s governing body the IAAF said that Lysenko had been provisionally suspended after her 2005 sample had revealed an abnormality.

The following month, reports in Italy and Russia named Lysenko as being among dozens of athletes from the 2012 Olympics who had failed dope tests after the retesting of stored samples.

If confirmed Lysenko faces a lifetime ban from track and field.

It is not yet known whether Wlodarczyk will receive the gold medal likely to be stripped from Lysenko.