World Champs Men’s Javelin — Walcott Turns Back Clock

A decade-plus after his Olympic gold medal turn in London, determined 32-year-old Keshorn Walcott earned his first Worlds gold with his longest throw since June of  ’22. (KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT)

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, Keshorn Walcott caused a sensation when, aged just 19, he became the youngest-ever men’s javelin winner in Olympic history. Turn the clock forward to Tokyo25 and the Trinidadian once again stood atop the podium.

In an evenly matched contest, which for most purposes was truncated after four rounds when the rain started to fall and the runway became slick, Walcott took the lead at the end of the second stanza with 288-2 (87.83). The throw was his longest in 3 years and he improved further to 289-3 (88.16) with the last throw of round 4. The timing, just before the heavens opened, was providential.

No one could improve in the final two rounds and Walcott became the Caribbean nation’s first world champion in the field.

“I have been waiting for this medal for 13 years,” said Walcott. “Olympic victory at the age of 19 was incredible, I could never beat it, but every World Championship I hoped. I was ready, I have been fighting for this, but I was always off the podium. I even thought that the championships are not my competition. But I never gave up. If I had given up, I would not be here.”

He had reached the final in only one of his four previous WC appearances, in London 8 years ago, although he did also get the ’16 Olympic bronze.

’19 and ’22 WC gold medalist Anderson Peters, from Grenada just 100M to the north of Trinidad, pushed Walcott the hardest. His 286-7 (87.38) early in the second round held up for silver.

Eighteen years after Breaux Greer got the last U.S. javelin medal, Curtis Thompson ended that barren streak with an opener of 284-4 (86.67) that earned him the bronze. Thompson’s comethrough throw on the big occasion after crashing out of the Budapest ’23 and Paris ’24 Q rounds happened to be the longest-ever by a U.S. javelinist in a World or Olympic final.

“It’s so amazing just to hear that, I didn’t know that — just because we’ve had a lot of great throwers in the U.S. Just to be able to have a far throw like that, be one of the best, [makes me] excited to look forward into the future and try to improve that.” Thompson declared when informed of this fact.

Of the immediate circumstances, the former Mississippi State Bulldog and 4-time U.S. champion said, “I had ups and downs during my preparation, but I kept trusting the process and I knew I was ready for this moment.”

Perhaps surprisingly, there were no European or Southeast Asian throwers on the podium.

Pre-champs favorite Julian Weber, from Germany, once again couldn’t find his rhythm on the global stage and had to settle for 5th with 282-6 (86.11), a huge disappointment for a man who threw a world-leading 300-2 (91.51) to win the DL final in Zürich 3 weeks previously.

Tokyo gold medalist/’23 WC winner Neeraj Chopra was below-par on his return to the stadium where he became an Indian sporting legend four years ago. His Olympic successor, Arshad Nadeem from neighboring Pakistan, was still short of his top form after calf surgery in July. The pair finished 8th and 10th.

Marc Minichello finished 20th in the qualifiers with 264-0 (80.47), but the 2-time NCAA winner, in his first major international champs, would have needed to have improved on his 271-2 (82.65) PR from earlier in the summer to make the final.

MEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS

FINAL (September 18)

1. Keshorn Walcott (Tri) 289-3 (88.16)

(266-6, 288-2, 267-10, 289-3, 281-7, 272-4) (81.22, 87.83, 81.65, 88.16, 85.84, 83.00);

2. Anderson Peters (Grn) 286-8 (87.38)

(277-6, 286-8, 271-9, 274-4, 276-2, 283-0) (84.59, 87.38, 82.83, 83.62, 84.19, 86.26);

3. Curtis Thompson (US) 284-4 (86.67)

(284-4, 266-11, 279-10, f, f, f) (86.67, 81.36, 85.31, f, f, f);

4. Sachin Yadav (Ind) 283-0 (86.27) PR

(283-0, f, 281-2, 278-6, 282-0, 265-7) (86.27, f, 85.71, 84.90, 85.96, 80.95);

5. Julian Weber (Ger) 282-6 (86.11)

(274-4, 282-6, f, 264-7, 267-7, 277-9) (83.63, 86.11, f, 80.66, 81.57, 84.67);

6. Julius Yego (Ken) 280-8 (85.54)

(251-3, 280-8, f, p, p, p) (76.58, 85.54, f, p, p, p);

7. Rumesh Tharanga (SrL) 276-10 (84.38)

(276-10, 266-6, 269-7, f, f) (84.38, 81.22, 82.17, f, f);

8. Neeraj Chopra (Ind) 275-8 (84.03)

(274-5, 275-8, f, 271-10, f) (83.65, 84.03, f, 82.86, f);

9. Dawid Wegner (Pol) 272-5 (83.03)

(253-1, 271-9, 256-6, 272-5) (77.15, 82.84, 78.19, 83.03);

10. Arshad Nadeem (Pak) 271-6 (82.75)

(271-5, f, 271-6, f) (82.73, f, 82.75, f);

11. Jakub Vadlejch (CzR) 258-3 (78.71)

(258-3, f, f) (78.71, f, f);

12. Cameron McEntyre (Aus) 248-2 (75.65)

(244-0, 248-2, f) (74.39, 75.65, f).

(best-ever mark-for-place: 10)

* = progression of the leading throw; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day

first 3 rounds

Weber
83.63*
86.11¶
f

Peters
84.59*
87.38*¶
82.83

Nadeem
82.73
f
82.75¶

Chopra
83.65
84.03¶
f

Yego
76.58
85.54¶
f

Thompson
86.67*¶
81.36
85.31

McEntyre
74.39
75.65¶
f

Wegner
77.15
82.84
78.19

Yadav
86.27¶
f
85.71

Pathirage
84.38¶
81.22
82.17

Vadlejch
78.71¶
f
f

Walcott
81.22
87.83*
81.65

round 4

Nadeem
f

Wegner
83.03¶

Chopra
82.86
f

Pathirage
f
f

Yego
p
p
p

Weber
80.66
81.57
84.67

Yadav
84.90
85.96
80.95

Thompson
f
f
f

Peters
83.62
84.19
86.26

Walcott
88.16*¶
85.84
83.00

round 5

Chopra
f

Pathirage
f

Yego
p

Weber
81.57

Yadav
85.96

Thompson
f

Peters
84.19

Walcott
85.84

final round

Yego
p

Weber
84.67

Yadav
80.95

Thompson
f

Peters
86.26

Walcott
83.00

QUALIFYING (September 17; auto-qualifier 277-3/84.50)

Qualifiers: Peters 293-8 (89.53), Weber 286-1 (87.21), Yego 282-0 (85.96), Wegner 281-1 (85.67) PR, Nadeem 279-9 (85.28), Chopra 278-4 (84.85), Thompson 277-11 (84.72), Vadlejch 275-11 (84.11), Walcott 275-4 (83.93), Yadav 274-6 (83.67), McEntyre 272-5 (83.03) PR, Tharanga 271-8 (82.80);

Non-Qualifiers:

Edis Matusevičius (Lit) 271-7 (82.78) (longest-ever non-qualifier),

Simon Wieland (Swi) 269-10 (82.26) NR, R.M.S.J. Ranasinghe (SrL) 268-7 (81.86), Cyprian Mrzygłód (Pol) 267-3 (81.47), Lassi Etelätalo (Fin) 266-10 (81.33), Douw Smit (SA) 266-6 (81.23), Luiz Da Silva (Bra) 266-2 (81.12), Marc Minichello (US) 264-0 (80.47), Marcin Krukowski (Pol) 263-5 (80.29), Keyshawn Strachan (Bah) 262-6 (80.03), Oliver Helander (Fin) 261-7 (79.75), Haoran Hu (Chn) 260-7 (79.42), Pedro Henrique Rodrigues (Bra) 260-4 (79.35), Lars Anthony Flaming (Par) 259-5 (79.07), Eemil Porvari (Fin) 257-7 (78.51), Rohit Yadav (Ind) 255-3 (77.81), Yuta Sakiyama (Jpn) 254-7 (77.61), Yashvir Singh (Ind) 254-3 (77.51), Genki Dean (Jpn) 252-8 (77.01), Leandro Ramos (Por) 251-5 (76.65), Artur Felfner (Ukr) 249-9 (76.13), Billy Julio López (Col) 249-4 (76.01), Sindri Hrafn Guðmundsson (Ice) 247-11 (75.56), Gen Naganuma (Jpn) 245-1 (74.70), Martin Konečný (CzR) 240-9 (73.38).

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