Annike Suthe from Germany opened this competition with a superb Championships Record that was to last only minutes before she was upstaged by her compatriot Vivian Zimmer.
Suthe’s initial throw was a massive 57.13, demolishing the previous record of 55.35, set by Latvia’s Linda Brivule in Kingston 2002, then, with the last throw of the first round, Zimmer hurled her javelin out to 58.24 with her first throw, improving this to 58.50 in round two and this was to be the winning mark at the end of the competition.
Zimmer threw remarkably consistently throughout the competition, with 4 of her six throws over 58 metres and despite a spirited last effort from Suthe who improved her first throw by 2 centimetres to 57.15, it was Zimmer who won the day, to give Germany the gold and silver medals.
Perhaps inspired by the performance of the two Germans, Annabel Thompson of Australia (who is a multi-talented thrower, who also throws hammer, shot and discus) managed to pull her best performance out with her last throw to take the bronze medal with a new Oceania Area Record of 56.01, edging out France’s Doriane Gilibert who threw just before her and managed a new National Junior Record of 54.77. There was also a new National Junior Record for fifth placer Yuki Ebihara with 54.44, her opening throw.
