hammer throw is an athletic throwing event where the object to be thrown is a heavy steel ball attached with wire (maximum length 4 ft (1.22 m)) to a handle. The name "hammer throw" is derived from older competitions where an actual hammer was thrown. Such competitions are still part of the Scottish Highland Games, where the implement used is a steel or lead weight at the end of a cane handle.The current world record for the men's hammer was set by Yuriy Sedykh who threw 86.74 m at the European athletics championships held in Stuttgart, West Germany in 1986.