World silver medalist Koji Murofushi on Wednesday threw the hammer over 80 meters for the first time this season to prevail in the men's hammer throw event at the IAAF Qatar Athletic Grand Prix 1 meet.
Murofushi, who got off to a slow start this season because of skin problems on the left little finger, produced the day's best distance on his fourth attempt, tossing the hammer 83.33 meters -- just 14 cm shy of his Japanese record.
"My first two attempts were in the 70s, but I could sense the condition of the circle was good. I'm back to the form I was in last year when I was performing well and I'm glad to see a good result," Murofushi said after appearing in his third meet of the season.
Ukraine's Andriy Skvaruk was second with a throw of 82.16 meters and Balazs Kiss of Hungary took third with 80.12. Olympic and world champion Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland settled for 10th with a mediocre effort of 75.61.
Murofushi is currently tied for second behind South Africa's Chris Harmse in the 2002 Grand Prix standings. He finished second in last week's Japan Grand Prix (79.12) after earning his first title of the year at the Oda Memorial (78.37) in Hiroshima.