Harting’s final throw earns him Discus gold

German Christoph Harting won the men's discus competition at the Summer Olympics yesterday, taking the event with a final throw of 68.37m that narrowly passed previously leader Piotr Małachowski, of Poland. Małachowski finished with the silver after leading for much of the day, and German Daniel Jasinski earned bronze with his final throw.

Małachowski won the sport's world championship in 2015, and Estonia's Gerd Kanter won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The two were among the favorites entering the event, with Małachowski entering the final after his 65.89m throw in qualifying led the field. Kanter qualified in fifth, after a 64.02m toss. It looked, until late, like the Pole would win.

Kanter's countryman Martin Kupper surpassed him in the final, though, with a final throw of 66.58m. That put Kupper in silver position, before the next two throwers — Jasinski and Harting — passed him and pushed him out of a medal.

The discus competition included 12 throwers in the final. Each was granted three attempts at a throw, and those with the top eight best distances getting three more. It turned out to be an absolute thrill.

American thrower Mason Finley made the final, but he didn't medal. The story of how Mason got to Rio at all is pretty compelling, though: The 25-year-old once weighed 437 pounds, but after studying nutrition in college, he got his weight down to 345 pounds and managed to make the Olympics.

Then he qualified for the discus final in sixth place, and he finished the final 11th, only ahead of Lithuanian Andrius Gudzius.

Christophe Harding celebrates after clinching the discus gold in his last throw