Javelin legend reached final at Paris24
2 min read
Former world champion Julius Yego secured a spot in the javelin finals at the ongoing Paris Olympics after a massive throw of 85.97m during the qualifiers.
The African javelin champion who is commonly known as the ‘YouTube man’ finished second in the group A qualifiers, behind German’s Webber Julian who threw 87.76m. Finishing third was Vadlejch Jakub of Czech Republic with a 85.63m throw in the leading pack of seven automatic finalists.
In group B, another African athlete Chopra Neeraj of Ivory Coast, qualified for the finals with a 89.34m throw followed by Peters Anderson and Pakistan’s Nadeem Arshard in that order. The lot joins the athletes who reached the qualification threshold of 84m, or at least 12 best performers to the final.
Yego, the former Team Kenya Olympics captain, punched the air in jubilation to a loud applause from the fans at the Stade de France. Yego will be seeking to make extra effort after failing to register a legal throw in the first two attempts in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan.
The javelin legend won gold medal with a throw of 92.72m at the 2015 World championships, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World championships gold medal in a field event. He won silver in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Yego is ranked 15th in the world with a best rate of 92.72m, he scored at Beijing in 2015 world championships.He won the African title in Accra Ghana with 81.74m throw on March 22, 2024.
The well-built police officer, carries the Kenyan medal of hope on his shoulders and is hoping to be the champion in the finals
He pulled off a massive throw of 85.97m to land an automatic qualification.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
