Jennifer Dahlgren

Jennifer Dahlgren Fitzner (born 21 April 1984) is a retired Argentine hammer thrower. Having spent much of her life in the United States, she competed as an amateur for the University of Georgia. She set the US collegiate hammer record and was the NCAA Outdoor champion in both 2006 and 2007. She is a three-time gold medallist at the South American Championships and won the bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Dahlgren has represented Argentina at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as competed at the World Championships in Athletics on three occasions. She first broke the South American record in the discipline in 2004 and has raised it several metres to her current best of 73.74 m. She is one of the continent's top performers in the event, in which South American athletes are historically weak. In 2010 she won the Konex Award Merit Diploma as one of the five best athletes from the last decade in Argentina.

Career Dahlgren's first major tournament was the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but she did not make the final, finishing 11th in the qualifying stages. She finished fourth at the 2001 World Youth Championships, but won the South American Junior Championships and placed second at the Pan American Junior Championships that year. Dahlgren placed fifth at the World Junior Championships in Athletics the following year and again topped the podium in the 2002 South American Junior Championships in Athletics. The 2003 season proved to be a breakthrough year: she set the South American junior record in the discipline and won at the Pan American Junior Championships. She did not continue her momentum into the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and threw three fouls to be eliminated in the qualifying round. She went on to win her first outdoor NCAA hammer throw title a few months later. Dahlgren improved her championship record to 69.07 m to take a second continental gold at the 2006 South American Championships in Athletics. She also won at the 2006 South American Games, which acted as the South American Under-23 Athletics Championships that year.

She started 2007 by winning the NCAA championships with a mark of 70.72 m (her final amateur title) and throwing a new South American record of 72.01 m soon afterwards in Greensboro, North Carolina. Representing Argentina at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, she threw 65.64 m in the qualifying round but this was not enough to progress to the final.

She suffered a foot injury in 2008, which affected her performances early in the season. She recovered somewhat in time for the 2008 Ibero-American Championships and was the silver medallist behind Rosa Rodríguez. She had a best mark of 66.35 m at the 2008 Summer Olympics, leaving her as the best South American performer but in 29th place overall. She had a below par performance at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics, throwing 63.81 m for the bronze medal. Despite this, she was also the best South American performer in the hammer at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, where her throw of 68.90 m was good enough for 17th, but not enough to make the final round.

She came under the tutelage of fellow Argentine Marcelo Pugliese, a former Olympic hammer thrower. At the start of the 2010 season, Dahlgren set another best of 73.74 m in Buenos Aires.

Personal life Dahlgren frequently moved with her family in her youth, which meant that she spent much time living in the United States. She returned to Argentina at the age of 13, but took time to feel comfortable with the language and settle into her school. However, after settling she was once again uprooted as her family moved to Texas. Her mother Irene Fitzner competed for Argentina as a sprint athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Dahlgren's younger brother, Paul, attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Personal bests EventBest (m)VenueDateShot put (indoor) 15.54 Blacksburg, Virginia, United States 14 February 200420 lb weight throw (indoor) 24.04 Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States 10 March 2006Hammer throw 73.74 Buenos Aires, Argentina 10 April 2010 All information taken from IAAF profile.

Achievements