WHAT DO the ’19 seasons of javelinist Anderson Peters and hurdler Grant Holloway have in common? Each claimed both an NCAA title (Peters for Mississippi State, Holloway for Florida) and a WC gold. Holloway’s win was only a little bit of a surprise, though, while Peters’ ranked up there in the I-didn’t-expect-that department. The collegiate spear champ for the Bulldogs the last two years as a frosh and soph, the 21-year-old Grenadian grabbed the lead in the first round and never let go. Although he released his spear far behind an optimal distance from the line it nonetheless came down 284-5 (86.69) away, just 24 inches (62cm) off the PR he had set in August.
That, as it turned out, was enough to win, leading Peters to say, “I didn’t think 86m would be enough to win gold. I was up against 90m [295-3] men throwing high 88s [c290] all season.”
The closest anybody would come to that was the second-round 282-10 (86.21) by favored Magnus Kirt. Kirt, the list-leading Estonian with the aggressive dive-at-the-line style, paid the price for being daring in the fifth round, coming down hard on his throwing shoulder and being carried off after some ice-bag treatment. “I’ve only seen an X-ray and it wasn’t anything insane,” he said after returning home. “But my arm gets stiff and there are still questions there.”
The second round also produced the bronze-medal number, 280-1 (85.37) for Germany’s Johannes Vetter, who said, “Although the level was not that high today, I cannot say that I lost gold tonight. I won the bronze medal.” The defending champ, he had led the qualifying round at 293-1 (89.35).
A final that was distinctly shy on long marks in the first three rounds only doubled down on that in the final three stanzas, as there was only a single improvement, that in round 4, when Peters upped his leader to 285-1 (86.89), sneaking even closer to his PR.
The big news in the qualifying round— where the two Americans, Michael Shuey and Riley Dolezal, ended up in 18th and 26th—was that Germany lost half of its powerful quartet. Reigning Olympic champ Thomas Röhler (not formcharted after a summer of poor form) and Andreas Hofmann (charted as No. 3) were both far from not only the auto-Q of 275-7 (84.00) but also from the eventual last qualifier, 269-10 (82.26). That last Q went to Lassi Etelätalo, ensuring that Finland kept its streak alive of having a finalist in every Worlds. He went on to take 4th in the final at 270-7 (82.49).
WC MEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
FINAL
(October 06) (temperature 75F/24C; humidity 64%)
1. Anderson Peters (Grn) 285-1 (86.89)
(284-5, 266-7, 261-10, 285-1, 277-6, 274-4) (86.69, 81.26, 79.82, 86.89, 84.59, 83.63);
2. Magnus Kirt (Est) 282-10 (86.21)
(275-5, 282-10, 279-5, 281-10, f) (83.95, 86.21, 85.17, 85.90, f);
3. Johannes Vetter (Ger) 280-1 (85.37)
(f, 280-1, 270-8, f, 269-11, f) (f, 85.37, 82.51, f, 82.29, f);
4. Lassi Etelätalo (Fin) 270-7 (82.49)
(236-3, 255-8, 270-7, 244-10, f, 244-10) (72.00, 77.92, 82.49, 74.62, f, 74.63);
5. Jakub Vadlejch (CzR) 269-8 (82.19)
(253-8, 268-11, 269-8, 253-10, f, f) (77.32, 81.98, 82.19, 77.36, f, f);
6. Julian Weber (Ger) 266-7 (81.26)
(266-5, 266-7, 265-1, 260-7, 260-8, 241-5) (81.20, 81.26, 80.80, 79.43, 79.46, 73.58);
7. Marcin Krukowski (Pol) 264-4 (80.56) (264-4, 262-2, f, f, f, f) (80.56, 79.91, f, f, f, f);
8. Kim Amb (Swe) 263-10 (80.42)
(258-11, 263-10, 257-7, 248-4, f, f) (78.93, 80.42, 78.51, 75.71, f, f);
9. Norbert Rivasz-Tóth (Hun) 261-7 (79.73)
(261-7, 255-6, 251-1) (79.73, 77.89, 76.55);
10. Chao-Tsun Cheng (Tai) 255-10 (77.99)
(245-2, 254-3, 255-10) (74.74, 77.51, 77.99);
11. Keshorn Walcott (Tri) 254-2 (77.47)
(247-0, 254-2, f) (75.30, 77.47, f);
… 3f—Julius Yego (Ken).
| first 3 rounds | |||
| * = progression of the leading throw | |||
| ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| Walcott | 75.30* | 77.47¶ | f |
| Vetter | f | 85.37¶ | 82.51 |
| Rivasz-Tóth | 79.73*¶ | 77.89 | 76.55 |
| Kirt | 83.95* | 86.21¶ | 85.17 |
| Etelätalo | 72.00 | 77.92 | 82.49¶ |
| Peters | 86.69* | 81.26 | 79.82 |
| Yego | f | f | f |
| Weber | 81.20 | 81.26¶ | 80.80 |
| Krukowski | 80.56¶ | 79.91 | f |
| Amb | 78.93 | 80.42¶ | 78.51 |
| Cheng | 74.74 | 77.51 | 77.99¶ |
| Vadlejch | 77.32 | 81.98 | 82.19¶ |
| last 3 rounds | |||
| Amb | 75.71 | f | f |
| Krukowski | f | f | f |
| Weber | 79.43 | 79.46 | 73.58 |
| Vadlejch | 77.36 | f | f |
| Etelätalo | 74.62 | f | 74.63 |
| Vetter | f | 82.29 | f |
| Kirt | 85.90 | f | |
| Peters | 86.89*¶ | 84.59 | 83.63 |
QUALIFYING
(October 05; auto-qual 275-7/84.00)
Qualifiers: Vetter 293-1 (89.35), Kirt 289-11 (88.36), Peters 280-0 (85.34), Amb 278-4 (84.85), Walcott 277-0 (84.44), Vadlejch 276-7 (84.31), Weber 276-6 (84.29), Yego 275-1 (83.86), Rivasz-Tóth 273-8 (83.42) NR, Cheng 273-7 (83.40), Krukowski (Pol) 270-6 (82.44), Etelätalo 269-10 (82.26).
Non-qualifiers: Alexandru Novac (Rom) 269-5 (82.12), Aliaksei Katkavets (Blr) 269-3 (82.08), Ryohei Arai (Jpn) 268-1 (81.71), Arshad Nadeem (Pak) 267-5 (81.52) NR, Rolands Štrobinders (Lat) 266-0 (81.09), Michael Shuey (US) 264-2 (80.53), Oliver Helander (Fin) 263-8 (80.36), Andreas Hofmann (Ger) 262-8 (80.06), Gatis Čakšs (Lat) 262-3 (79.94), Edis Matusevičius (Lit) 261-2 (79.60), Thomas Röhler (Ger) 259-11 (79.23), Shivpal Singh (Ind) 259-1 (78.97), Qizhen Liu (Chn) 248-8 (75.81), Riley Dolezal (US) 248-1 (75.62), Pavel Mialeshka (Blr) 246-6 (75.14), Antti Ruuskanen (Fin) 246-2 (75.05), Albert Reynolds (StL) 242-6 (73.91), Oleksandr Nychyporchuk (Ukr) 238-8 (72.75);… 3f—Qinggang Zhao (Chn).
