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The Anthony’s – Nobilo and Barmes – will clash at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Wellington in what is shaping up as one of the finest men’s hammer competitions between two domestic throwers in history. Ahead of their showdown we speak to the duo – who were just a year apart at Westlake Boys’ High School on Auckland’s North Shore – about their very different journeys in the sport.

Anthony Barmes

For Anthony Barmes it has taken a move to the US to provide the catalyst, which he hopes will lead all the way to the Paris Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old won a national U20 title and New Zealand Secondary Schools gold medals in his younger days but back then he describes hammer throwing as more of a “side gig” with volleyball his primary sporting pursuit.

Yet after growing to 6ft 3ins – small for a top-level volleyball player – the former Westlake Boys’ High School student decided to explore the possibility of throwing the hammer at a US college.

After discovering a coach in Zane Chapman and a programme he believed, in August 2021 he joined Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The move prompted a transformation as Barmes quicky evolved from a casual one-time-a-week thrower into a 24/7 athlete and in his first season advanced from a 56-metre thrower to a 67-metre performer.

“As soon as I got to the US my motivation completely changed,” adds Anthony. “Back in New Zealand I didn’t take the hammer as seriously as I should have. It was something I wasn’t in love with but as soon as I got to the States, I threw everything into training every day. My results shot through the roof and I’m still on that incline.”

That incline can be next tracked in 2023 when he became only the fourth male hammer thrower in New Zealand to crack the 70m mark with a 70.53m throw at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines. Fuelled with a genuine belief that he can better the 30-year-old New Zealand record of 73.10m held by Angus Cooper and with aspirations to make the Paris Olympic team his next goal is the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships, where he will face a showdown with a fellow former Westlake Boys’ High School student Anthony Nobilo.

Raised on Auckland’s North Shore, Anthony was inspired to take up athletics through his mother, Ann Goulter, a successful masters’ athlete. He describes training with his mum – who is still an active presence on the New Zealand masters’ scene in sprints, jumps and throws – from the age of “12 or 13” as an “inspiration.”

“Truthfully, she inspires me than anybody,” explains Barmes. “I used to find the throws mentally challenging, but she was always the one who supported me.”

Specialising in hammer from the age of 15 and coached by Didier Poppe, Barmes developed into an accomplished age group performer, but it took that switch to the US to truly set him on the pathway to sustained success.

Thriving under the coaching of Chapman – who pushes me “to be the best version of myself” – in his freshman year he overperformed by making an 11m improvement and reaching the NCAA final, where he placed 21st.

“The goal that year was just to make regionals, so it was cool to go that one step further and make the NCAA finals,” he says. “To know that they are over 2000 hammer throwers in the whole US college system, and I am in the top 24 athletes made me proud.”

In his second year at Des Moines – where he is studying marketing – Anthony stepped up to another level. Five times he hurled the hammer beyond 69m with the highlight that 70.53m mark to join the exclusive 70m club – a mark only fellow male Kiwis Cooper, Philip Jensen and Murray Cheater have attained.

“Seventy metres has been a goal for many years,” he explains. “It is a big milestone, and I was very proud of myself. I had thrown a PB of 68.95m the week before, so I knew if I got it right, I could throw 70m. When I saw 70.53m I started to tear up. Knowing I was so far from home and on this crazy adventure and making so many people proud was the greatest feeling.”

Unfortunately, a knee ligament injury impacted his preparation for the 2023 NCAA finals in Austin but despite the far from perfect build up he still managed a second best ever throw of 69.67m to finish 12th.

“Considering the injury I had, I was proud of how I performed, although, truthfully, I was a little disappointed because I was shooting for the NZ record,” he explains.

Throwing the hammer an average of 120-140 times a week, Anthony believes he has continued to progress leading into the 2024 season. He has advanced his weight throw PB by more than half-a-metre to 21.12m during the indoor season and made technical changes, which he believes will come to fruition in 2024.

Yet perhaps one of his biggest contributors to what he hopes will be a successful year is piling on 10kg of weight over the past six months.

“I’m quite small for a hammer thrower, so to be 10kg heavier will help me throw further. I’m moving just as quickly in the circle. Every three months I do a broad jump and vertical jump and despite being heavier the fact that has improved the latter by two inches and my broad jump by four inches shows I’m tracking in the right direction.

Next competing at his first Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships for four years he is relishing the prospect of taking on Anthony Nobilo.

“We’ve never had two people pushing 70m in New Zealand for a long time. We went to the same high school and his name is Anthony – it is kind of crazy when you think about it! He was the year above me at school and when he won secondary schools nationals, he threw 74m and I threw 61m. He was always well ahead of me. This meet is major for me. I hope to be pushing 71m and 72m. It is exciting having the two of us going at it.”

Anthony Nobilo

While Anthony Barmes is all set for his senior debut at the Jennian Homes Track & Field Championships Anthony Nobilo has forged quite the record in the marquee event on the domestic calendar.

The winner of five consecutive national senior titles from 2019-23, Nobilo has been the dominant hammer thrower on the domestic scene for some time, and as his PB of 69.72m at Potts Classic showed in January he is very much on an upward trajectory.

Yet harbouring ambitions – like Barmes – to one day represent his country at major global championships he welcomes taking on Barmes at Newtown Park and believes the pair can elevate each other to greater heights in pursuit of the 30-year-old national record of Angus Cooper (73.10m).

“Anthony (Barmes) is throwing well, and with me on the verge of throwing 70m and Anthony over 70m, it is possible that one of us will get the record,” explains Nobilo. “With the two of us it is possible that we will have a similar situation to the women’s hammer a few years ago when Julia Ratcliffe and Lauren Bruce were really pushing each other.”

During the 2023 domestic season the North Harbour Bays athlete registered a PB of 68.95m and later in the year during a three-week period based in Germany he hurled his then second best performance of 68.25m in Rehlingen.

‘Mike (Schofield, Nobilo’s coach) thought it was a good opportunity to head over to Europe and compete against 70m plus throwers,” he adds. “I did pretty well out there, I learned to be more independent without Mike.”

Having worked with Schofield for the past ten years, Europe was an invaluable experience, but more changes have followed when last year his long-time coach relocated from Auckland to Hawke’s Bay. Naturally the move presented its challenges, but Nobilo believes thanks to their innate understanding of one another the coach-athlete relationship has continued to thrive.

“Mike he has been with me all the way through my teenage years to now, so he knows how I work and how I tick and I find that really valuable.”

Schofield sets the overall programme and offers regular technical feedback via videos. Other recent changes Nobilo has experienced is he now works alongside Maddi Wesche, who finished fourth in the women’s shot at the World Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this month, for two to three strength and conditioning sessions a week.

Supported by HPSNZ strength and conditioning coach Simon Chatterton, the national hammer champion believes the set up has brought its rewards.

“I really enjoy training with Maddi, she just gets on with it and also pushes me to lift heavier and throw further and we feed off each other to throw further,” he explains.

The recipe has cleared worked as he opened his 2024 campaign with a PB of 69.72m at the Potts Track & Field Classic. Believing piling on an extra three kilograms since returning from Europe – he now tips the scales at 108kg – coupled with some technical tweaks has brought about the advance. However, he insists a mindset shift has played its part.

“The main thing is I focus on the process rather than the expectation. Rather than expecting to throw 70m, I focus on the process of what will allow me to get me to 70m.”

Having recently started work as a personal fitness trainer at AUT Millennium and coach to a small group of throwers which includes Karmen-Elizabeth Maritz, the national U16 discus and shot champion, whom he co-coaches alongside Schofield, Nobilo has a full life.

Yet his primary short-term target is his showdown with Barmes in Wellington – whom he last competed against at the 2020 nationals.

“I am looking forward to what will be a good showdown,” says Nobilo. “May the best Anthony on the day win!”

***For tickets to the 2024 Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships at Newtown Park, Wellington go here