What if?

As I was sitting at work with not alot going on I started to compare The Highland hammer to olympic hammer.... the Highland hammer world record is 158' 8.5 and the olympic record is 284' 7" does anyone think an elite olympic hammer thrower could come out and beat the Highland world record?

I think it highly unlikely that a top level HG hammer thrower could transition to elite level in wire hammer. As has been mentioned already, wire hammer is probably the most technical event in all of T&F. If you really want to be great you should probably start when you're 8 or 9 years old.

That said, in my experience, wire hammer throwers transition more easily to HG than athletes from any other T&F event. Discus throwers want to drag everything, shotputters struggle with weights and hammers. But hammer throwers already have a good handle on four events (weights and hammers) plus they are used to exploding upward with a weight in front of them so they do well in WOB and caber.

I think Matt is a great example here. Many people don't know this but as a junior he was one of the best wire hammer throwers in the world. His accomplishments in HG are known to us all. Lots of other wire hammer guys out there have done exceptionally well too, Dave Mackenzie comes to mind.

I think that part of the reasons why top olympic throwers found it difficult to throw the highland hammers is that they tried to use thier olympic tech s .

IMO i think there are 2 types of throwers  1 power throwers  and 2 speed throwers,throwers who generate alot  speed during the winds examples being bruce alistar steven ect.This is the most consistant style .Where as a power thrower, and your levels are not at peak.Big distance losses.

I could only imagine what kind of distances Jud Logan could have thrown with the H hammer and a style to suit,one of the most powerful athletes i have ever seen.