Behind Price, U.S. wins first world gold in hammer throw

DOHA, Qatar — The very first time DeAnna Price tried to throw the hammer, it smacked her in the head.

She figured that’s the end of that.

Good thing she kept on trying.

The former softball standout, who used track and field only to stay in shape, put America on the board in the quirky little world of the hammer throw, winning the country’s first world championship medal in the event Saturday — a gold one, at that.

Words you never expected to hear: An American will be among the favorites in the hammer next summer in Tokyo.

“It’s been such a crazy journey,” the U.S. record holder from Missouri said.

Even though there’s netting to hem in wild throws, the dangers inherent in hurling a nearly 9-pound weight across the middle of a jampacked stadium often relegates hammer throwers to offsite venues. Or leaves them to compete before the runners, jumpers and throwers — and fans — even show up.

Very few get famous in this sport.

So, what made Price decide it was hammer time?

A four-sport athlete in high school, she was focused on softball, but then it got dropped from the Olympic program for 2012 and 2016. So she decided to try something else.

Early on, it was the 800 meters. But that changed when she was invited by a coach to give the hammer a go.

It didn’t go well.

“He handed me this thing, and I didn’t know what it was. It was the hammer,” Price recalled. “At 16 years old, I don’t know what to do with this thing. The first time I wound it around my head, I hit my head with the handle, right on the forehead. I remember literally dropping it and saying, ‘I’m never doing this again. I’m done.’”

Idle threat, of course.