In-form Tuthill hoping homework will stand to her in Tokyo test

The Bandon native's development has been helped by a home-made throwing circle at her homeplace in Bandon

EASTERN PROMISE: Hammer thrower Nicola Tuthill pictured ahead of the World Athletics Championships which take place in Tokyo. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

When the horses see her coming, gear bag slung over the shoulder, they know it’s time to leave. Nicola Tuthill will walk out into the field alongside her family home in Bandon and step into the concrete throwing circle that her parents built for her six years ago, then launch a 4kg metal ball around 70 metres – something only a few dozen women in the world can manage.

“I'm just kind of taking over that field now,” she smiles, adding that her two horses “get locked down far away” when she’s practising her craft and have also “learned to stay out of the way.” It was 2019, her Junior Cert year, when Tuthill’s mother figured it’d be a good idea to save the time spent trekking across town to training and hatched plans to construct a hammer facility at home, with her father soon getting to work on it. Tuthill was then 15 and making waves as a thrower, having started her athletics career as a middle-distance runner.