The Drake university in Des Moines (USA) is the home of the BULLDOGS team . It is also since now quite 3 years , the home of two Kiwis and our former athletes in New Zealand . Centaine NOON DUCKWORTH and Anthony BARMES who have both got a scholarship at this renowned university , thanks to their early results in the hammer throw . Moving from ”occasional” training one or twice a week to ”professional” training twice a day is likely to change your sporting life and should produce results . And indeed it does !  So much and so well that Anthony , after being the 4th New Zealander to break the 70m last year with a 70.53m throw , has now become more ambitious and after winning his 1st NZL senior title in march from his rival Anthony NOBILO , has improved his PB to 71.07m , moving into top 60 in the world ranking so far. This is only about 2m short from the NZL record (73.10m Angus COOPER 1994) but also getting closer to the 73-75m performance which could open the door to a Paris Olympics qualification !

Centaine NOOM DUCKWORTH was a bit slower to progress but after rising her PB to 57m in 2023 she has now made an important step with a 60.37m throw , being then the 6th NZL all time female to throw over the 60m line. After her winter quite significant 19.26m PB in the weight hammer , this could be expected and there is probably more to come as the US universities season is just beginning.

Both athletes are now successfully coached by Zane CHAPMAN.

Available documents NOOM DUCKWORTH : 1-Video analysis 60.37m and 19.26m plus 3.5kg 65.60m training PB