Re:Best Discus thrower videos to study for technique? - Throwing Events Discussion

Which Discus thrower/videos would you consider to be the best options for a new thrower or coach to study to learn technique?

Alekna is awesome. He has amazing balance and finishes his throws with great power. Watching throwers that are tall like he is makes it easier to see movement and what each lever is doing.

Plus, he is the greatest! Easy to beleive you'll be successful if you can do what he does!

Alekna's form is a bit too much for most people to handle, with the footlook required in the back of the circle and balance required in order to land and finish the throw properly.

I prefer tunks, his form has no unneccesarry moves, its just drive to the front and release.

I agree that Tunks is a good model as well, but to say "unnecessary moves" would be odd. Alekna is more dynamic/athletic, moving that fast requires more extreme positions........you might want to say it he's a better thrower. Probably 5 meters better than Tunks on most days.

Would you then say that maybe we should model beginners after people that throw 150-170 feet, since that's obtainable for most mortals. Alekna and Tunks are both extremes.

Well in my opinion it would depend on how tall one would be. With Aleknas form, a much shorter person would have trouble generating that much power with the huge block at the end. Therefore not maximizing their potential obviously because of shorter levers. However if one was tall it is the best form to model after. As for shorter people I really like how fast and precise Robert Fazekas is on generating alot of speed along with a huge reverse on his finish. Ideal for shorter people and to compete they must speed everything up while obtaining perfect form as Fazekas shows us.

ThrowFarther Webmaster Note: Thrower videos mentioned in these posts can be seen on this site: There are several throws for each of them. You can see each of the throws by going to the top of the site, selecting "search media archive" and then enter their last names. Or you can can check out each of the following URL's.
Fazekas1: www.throwfarther.com//index.ph...;cat=0&pos=0
Alekna: www.throwfarther.com//index.ph...;cat=0&pos=1

The best technician in the discus is always going to up for debate but Wilkins, Powell, Delis have some of the most dependable, repeatable technique in history of the event. None were overly big or strong but used technique based on balance, gravity, foot pivoting, and stretch reflex.

There are tons of good technical models out there, but nobody should try to model themselves exactly after just one thrower because no two throwers have the exact same genetic capabilities and sizes/builds.

Also building on what was mentioned before, if you're going to have an athlete try to resemble what a 150-170 thrower does it can't be just any 150-170 foot thrower, there are some guys who can throw decently far and just muscle it out there. I think watching elite throwers is good for an athlete not so they can try to replicate their technique, but so they can understand what good technique is and try to incorperate different elements of different throwers into their throwing.

I have to agree that Mac Wilkins, as well as, Wolfgang Schmidt are some of the best clips to watch. Great kinesthetic awareness- proprioception. They both utilize great separation of the hips and shoulders. They both have good direction, and summation of forces in the front of the circle. They both have a sound leg lock, left are block.

On the other hand, I am not a fan of Powell. In my opinion, he does not use position to create power, and has a drastic separation of forces in his delivery.

so what would you consider to be short height and what would you to consider to be tall height?<br><br>Post edited by: illini_football, at: 2008/04/10 15:19

illini_football wrote:
so what would you consider to be short height and what would you to consider to be tall height?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Post edited by: illini_football, at: 2008/04/10 15:19

Short is anyone under 6'. Tall is over 6'4&quot;. My favorite videos for discus are Wilkins, Schmidt, and Riedel.

so is 6' a good height

illini_football wrote:
so is 6' a good height

Yes. There have been many quality throwers at the 6' level