Haruka Kitaguchi at the IAAF World Youth Championships Cali 2015 (© Getty Images)
European athletes have taken gold in the women’s javelin at the past eight editions of the World U20 Championships, but with world U18 champion Haruka Kitaguchi slated to compete in Bydgoszcz, this year’s title could be heading to Asia for the first time.
Japan has never taken a medal of any sort in this event, but in Kitaguchi they have an athlete who looks poised to end that drought. The 18-year-old is the only athlete in the field to surpass the 60-metre barrier this year, having unleashed a national U20 record of 61.38m in Kawasaki earlier this year. A reproduction of that should see her add the world U20 title to the U18 crown she won in Cali last year.
Her biggest threat is likely to come from Turkey’s Eda Tugsuz, who threw a national record of 58.95m in Mersin back in May. Tugsuz warmed up for Bydgoszcz by competing at the European Championships in Amsterdam last week, throwing a best of 56.97m to finish 11th in the final.
Germany’s Youth Olympic silver medallist Fabienne Schonig is third on this year’s world U20 list, having thrown a big PB of 57.40m in Wipperfurth in May. But the 18-year-old has yet to produce anything close to that since, her best effort the 51.46m she threw in Bottrop. To get among the medals in Bydgoszcz, she may need to reproduce a throw close to her best.
South Africa’s Jo-Ane van Dyk, however, is rounding into medal-winning form at the right time, the 18-year-old hurling the spear 56.22m at the African Championships in Durban last month, a lifetime best by more than two metres.
Nikol Tabackova of the Czech Republic, Hanna Tarasiuk of Belarus and Mirrell Luik of Estonia have all thrown beyond 54 metres this year and should also contend for a place on the podium.
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF
