Denny circles in wait to hammer home his bid for double gold

QUEENSLAND farm boy Matthew Denny has a homemade throwing circle in a field in Allora and in the centre sits a solitary tree.

If he ever hits it with a thrown hammer, it would mean Denny, the national hammer throw and discus champion, is ready to unleash a world record in competition.

The 21-year-old believes he can take a medal from both the hammer and discus finals at Carrara Stadium next week and is ranked third in the Commonwealth for distances thrown in 2018.

It’s an entree to, he hopes, one day taking out the Olympic gold medal in both events at the same Games.

Denny is the first Australian in 68 years to compete in those two field events in the same Commonwealth Games, following the not-so-beaten path of Keith Pardon at the 1950 Games, at which Pardon won a silver medal in the hammer.

“When we had the circle at home the aim was always to hit the tree. It’s dead centre at 86m,” said Denny, a Rio Olympian in discus where he placed 19th.

“Where I was throwing (lighter) 5kg weights for younger athletes, I was getting the distance but I couldn’t get the accuracy down the middle.

“To begin with there was no cage. There’s a road to the left of us and a couple of times I put it up in the power lines – we have netting there now for safety.

“If I ever hit it, I’m in world record shape.’’

The hammer world record of 86.74m has stood since 1988 to Soviet athlete Yuriy Sedykh.

The Games men’s hammer throw is a straight final tomorrow afternoon and England’s Nick Miller advanced his case for favouritism with a 78.29m effort in the United States on March 30.

Miller is ranked No.1 in the world for outdoor throws this year and the only Commonwealth man in the top 10.

Denny, a pup in international throwing terms, is third in the Commonwealth this year with his 74.77m in Brisbane on March 22.

Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres is the world’s leading discus thrower this year with 69.83m and has five of the top 10 throws, with Denny’s 65.03m at the Gold Coast on February 16 good for 11th and countryman Benn Harradine’s 63.56m 12th.

Queensland’s Americanbased Mitch Cooper is the third discus representative for Australia, alongside Denny and the experienced Harradine.