IN A STRANGE, underwhelming competition which produced the shortest winning distance in the history of the World Champs, and by some margin, at least the unheralded gold and silver medalists finished with smiles on their faces.
Neither Ecuador’s Yuleisy Angulo nor Latvia’s Anete Sietiņa featured at all in our pre-meet formchart yet both defied the odds and rose to the occasion on an airless evening which gave little help to the throwers.
Australia’s Mackenzie Little, the ’23 Worlds bronze medalist and 2-time NCAA champion while at Stanford, took an early lead with her 208-7 (63.58) opener.
However, with all the other big names struggling, Angulo made the most of her opportunity at the end of the second round.
She launched her implement out to 213-8 (65.12) for an almost 2-meter improvement on her own NR of 207-6 (63.25) which she had thrown in the qualifying round.
Throwers came and went, with nobody able to reach 210ft (64.00) until the final round, let alone challenge Angulo.
Sietiņa leapt up from 8th to 3rd in the fifth stanza with her 207-10 (63.35) and then overtook Little to grab silver with a last-round PR, 212-1 (64.64) that added an additional element to the shocking outcome of the contest.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Ecuador’s first woman global athletics gold medalist. “I compete to improve myself. I have an internal battle to improve myself.”
Angulo added: “My training partner Flor Dennis [Ruiz, from Colombia, who finished 6th on this occasion] won silver two years ago and I thought I could be at that level one day. I have faced some adversities, such as two surgeries in my left knee. But I persevered. I never gave up. I had been to two World Championships before [failing to make the final both times], and I wasn’t going to leave my third without a medal.”
Much to the disappointment of the home audience, reigning world and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi — the face of Tokyo25 and the hosts’ big hope for gold — crashed out in qualifying with only 198-1 (60.38). She had struggled with tendon issues in the elbow of her right throwing arm since July.
Kitaguchi was not the only Olympic gold medalist to exit in the prelims. Croatia’s Rio ’16 winner Sara Kolak missed the cut as did Poland’s world all-time No. 3 Maria Andrejczyk.
U.S. throwers Madison Wiltrout and Evie Bliss also failed to progress although their best efforts of 195-6 (59.58) and 193-2 (58.88) in the prelims were not far off their PRs.
WOMEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
FINAL (SEPTEMBER 20)
1. Yuleisy Angulo (Ecu) 213-8 (65.12) NR
(193-9, 213-8, f, 186-7, 206-4, 208-6) (59.07, 65.12, f, 56.87, 62.89, 63.55);
2. Anete Sietiņa (Lat) 212-1 (64.64) PR
(f, 194-11, f, 195-5, 207-10, 212-1) (f, 59.43, f, 59.56, 63.35, 64.64);
3. Mackenzie Little (Aus) 208-7 (63.58)
(208-7, 201-6, 191-2, 202-0, 197-5, 199-3) (63.58, 61.42, 58.28, 61.59, 60.19, 60.75);
4. Jo-Ané du Plessis (SA) 206-11 (63.06)
(199-1, 206-11, 196-4, 196-4, 195-10, 202-1) (60.69, 63.06, 59.84, 59.85, 59.70, 61.61);
5. Elína Tzénggo (Gre) 205-9 (62.72)
(205-9, 201-7, 191-6, 197-9, f, 197-3) (62.72, 61.45, 58.38, 60.28, f, 60.12);
6. Flor Dennis Ruiz (Col) 204-5 (62.32)
(192-11, 199-11, 194-3, 204-5, 193-4, f) (58.80, 60.94, 59.20, 62.32, 58.94, f);
7. Tori Moorby (NZ) 201-10 (61.53)
(197-8, 196-0, 201-10, f, 182-9) (60.26, 59.74, 61.53, f, 55.70);
8. Adriana Vilagoš (Ser) 201-1 (61.29)
(173-8, 188-0, 196-10, 201-1, 200-9) (52.93, 57.31, 60.00, 61.29, 61.20);
9. Lingdan Su (Chn) 195-5 (59.56)
(192-11, f, 195-5, 193-5) (58.81, f, 59.56, 58.97);
10. Victoria Hudson (Aut) 195-3 (59.52)
(f, 195-3, f, f) (f, 59.52, f, f);
11. Valentina Barrios (Col) 194-0 (59.14)
(189-9, 178-1, 194-0) (57.85, 54.29, 59.14);
12. Małgorzata Maślak-Glugla (Pol) 189-7 (57.80)
(189-7, 185-7, f) (57.80, 56.58, f).
| * = progression of the leading throw; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| first 3 rounds | |||
| Tzénggo | 62.72*¶ | 61.45 | 58.38 |
| Little | 63.58*¶ | 61.42 | 58.28 |
| Vilagoš | 52.93 | 57.31 | 60.00 |
| Hudson | f | 59.52¶ | f |
| Ruiz | 58.80 | 60.94 | 59.20 |
| du Plessis | 60.69 | 63.06¶ | 59.84 |
| Moorby | 60.26 | 59.74 | 61.53¶ |
| Sietiņa | f | 59.43 | f |
| Barrios | 57.85 | 54.29 | 59.14¶ |
| Máslak-Glugla | 57.80¶ | 56.58 | f |
| Su | 58.81 | f | 59.56¶ |
| Angulo | 59.07 | 65.12*¶ | f |
| round 4 | |||
| Sietiņa | 59.56 | ||
| Hudson | f | ||
| Su | 58.97 | ||
| Vilagoš | 61.29¶ | ||
| Ruiz | 62.32¶ | ||
| Moorby | f | ||
| Tzénggo | 60.28 | ||
| du Plessis | 59.85 | ||
| Little | 61.59 | ||
| Angulo | 56.87 | ||
| round 5 | |||
| Sietiņa | 63.35 | ||
| Vilagoš | 61.20 | ||
| Ruiz | 58.94 | ||
| Moorby | 55.70 | ||
| Tzénggo | f | ||
| du Plessis | 59.70 | ||
| Little | 60.19 | ||
| Angulo | 62.89 | ||
| final round | |||
| Ruiz | f | ||
| Tzénggo | 60.12 | ||
| du Plessis | 61.61 | ||
| Sietiņa | 64.64¶ | ||
| Little | 60.75 | ||
| Angulo | 63.55 | ||
QUALIFYING (September 19; auto-qualifier 205-1/62.50)
Qualifiers: Vilagoš 216-9 (66.06), Little 215-0 (65.54), Sietiņa 208-10 (63.67), Angulo 207-6 (63.25) NR, Hudson 206-2 (62.85), Moorby 206-0 (62.78), Su 204-0 (62.18), Ruiz 203-9 (62.11), Maślak-Glugla 202-8 (61.79) PR, du Plessis 201-4 (61.38), Tzénggo 201-1 (61.31), Barrios 200-1 (60.98),
Non-Qualifiers: Momone Ueda (Jpn) 198-5 (60.49), Haruka Kitaguchi (Jpn) 198-1 (60.38), Rhema Otabor (Bah) 197-0 (60.06), Maria Andrejczyk (Pol) 197-0 (60.04), Jucilene de Lima (Bra) 196-2 (59.79), Madison Wiltrout (US) 195-6 (59.58), Evie Bliss (US) 193-2 (58.88), Liveta Jasiūnaitė (Lit) 192-5 (58.66), Marija Vučenović (Ser) 191-7 (58.40), Marie-Therese Obst (Nor) 188-8 (57.52), Lianna Davidson (Aus) 188-5 (57.44), Manuela Rotundo (Uru) 188-5 (57.43), Qianqian Dai (Chn) 188-1 (57.34), Irene Jepkemboi (Ken) 185-6 (56.55), Eda Tuğsuz (Tur) 184-3 (56.16), Esra Türkmen (Tur) 183-8 (55.99), Annu Rani (Ind) 181-0 (55.18), Sae Takemoto (Jpn) 180-9 (55.11), Sigrid Borge (Nor) 180-1 (54.90), Līna Mūze-Sirmā (Lat) & Sara Kolak (Cro) 178-9 (54.49), Andrea Železná (CzR) 175-3 (53.43), Daniella Mieko Nisimura (Bra) 173-11 (53.01), Petra Sicaková (CzR) 170-3 (51.90).
