TOKYO, Japan: Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott clinched his first global title since he claimed Olympic gold as a teenager in 2012 when he won the men’s javelin final at the world championships with a throw of 88.16m on Thursday.
The 32-year-old dominated the competition in a blustery breeze at the National Stadium, producing the two longest throws of the evening to secure a first world championship medal to add to his 2012 gold and the bronze he won at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It feels great, it feels great, it’s been a long 13 years,” said Walcott, before opening up on his love-hate relationship with the sport.
“It’s painful, but it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s like the most toxic relationship ever. It just keeps pulling you back.”
In a good night for the Caribbean, Grenada’s Anderson Peters finished second with a throw of 87.38m to add a silver medal to the golds he won at the 2019 and 2022 world championships.
“My qualifying mark of 89.00m could have given me the gold, but I will try not to dwell too much on it,” said the 27-year-old.
“I think I was a bit too choppy on the run up today.”
Bronze went to Curtis Thompson, who sent his opening throw 86.67m to win a first world championship medal for the United States in the event since Breaux Greer in 2007.
There was no fairytale return to the site of his 2021 Olympic triumph for India’s defending champion Neeraj Chopra, who got nowhere near the 90.23m he threw earlier this season as he struggled to a best attempt of 84.03m and finished eighth.
“I don’t understand what happened today,” said Chopra. “This has not happened for a long time. Two weeks ago I had some back issues but I didn’t want to tell anyone.
“I was thinking I would still manage to get through it but javelin is really tough. If you are not in a good shape, you’re out.”
Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, who has spent much of the season injured, also had a disappointing evening and finished 10th with a best throw of 82.75m.
Sachin Yadav restored some pride for India with a personal best of 86.27m on his first attempt to finish fourth ahead of Julian Weber.
The German was another title contender who failed to fire as he managed only a best throw of 86.11m, well short of the world-leading 91.51m he recorded at the Diamond League final in Zurich last month.
Kenya’s 36-year-old Julius Yego, the 2015 world champion, turned his ankle on his third attempt and failed to finish the competition.
