The men's Javelin qualification saw difficult conditions with rain pouring down. The wet track did not help the throwers and this resulted in the lowest ever qualifying mark for the top 12. 12th athlete, Miroslav GUZDEK (CZE) only managed 77.24m, but still got his place in the final.
Since the new javelin was used for the first time in World Championships in Rome in 1987, only that year did the 12th qualifier throw under 78m - Dag WENNLUND (SWE) then qualified as the last athlete throwing 77.78m.
There were no real surpises in this low quality competition; of the world rankings top names only Eriks RAGS (LAT) did not qualify. However, Rags' 75.72m was not a real surprise as he had been throwing poorly in the lead up to the World Championships.
All the clearest medal contenders progressed easily with their first attempts. Boris HENRY (GER), topped the rankings with his 83.43m. World leading thrower Sergey MAKAROV (RUS) didn't worry about the rain either, he unleashed a 82.22m throw. With those two qualifying from Group A, the world record-holder Jan ZELEZNY (CZE), topped Group B with 82.88m.
There were two more athletes over the qualifying limit of 81.00m to make it a total of five. LI Rongxiang (CHN) bettered his seasonal best with 81.76m and Andrus VÄRNIK (EST) threw an unbelievably high throw which looked technically very bad, but still hit the ground at 81.11m at an angle of almost 90 degrees.
Steve Backley (GBR), who has won four consecutive European Championships, including Munich 2002, had to use all his three throws to get a best of 80.23m from round two. However, he did qualify for the final, as did 2001 World Championships silver medallist Aki PARVIAINEN (FIN). Parviainen, the 1999 world champion, only managed to throw 78.91m, but is known to have trouble throwing on a wet surface.
Other qualifiers were Christian NICOLAY (GER) 80.54m, Andreas THORKILDSEN (NOR) 79.44m, Aleksandr IVANOV (RUS) 79.26m and Peter BLANK (GER) 78.48m.
Since the new javelin was used for the first time in World Championships in Rome in 1987, only that year did the 12th qualifier throw under 78m - Dag WENNLUND (SWE) then qualified as the last athlete throwing 77.78m.
There were no real surpises in this low quality competition; of the world rankings top names only Eriks RAGS (LAT) did not qualify. However, Rags' 75.72m was not a real surprise as he had been throwing poorly in the lead up to the World Championships.
All the clearest medal contenders progressed easily with their first attempts. Boris HENRY (GER), topped the rankings with his 83.43m. World leading thrower Sergey MAKAROV (RUS) didn't worry about the rain either, he unleashed a 82.22m throw. With those two qualifying from Group A, the world record-holder Jan ZELEZNY (CZE), topped Group B with 82.88m.
There were two more athletes over the qualifying limit of 81.00m to make it a total of five. LI Rongxiang (CHN) bettered his seasonal best with 81.76m and Andrus VÄRNIK (EST) threw an unbelievably high throw which looked technically very bad, but still hit the ground at 81.11m at an angle of almost 90 degrees.
Steve Backley (GBR), who has won four consecutive European Championships, including Munich 2002, had to use all his three throws to get a best of 80.23m from round two. However, he did qualify for the final, as did 2001 World Championships silver medallist Aki PARVIAINEN (FIN). Parviainen, the 1999 world champion, only managed to throw 78.91m, but is known to have trouble throwing on a wet surface.
Other qualifiers were Christian NICOLAY (GER) 80.54m, Andreas THORKILDSEN (NOR) 79.44m, Aleksandr IVANOV (RUS) 79.26m and Peter BLANK (GER) 78.48m.
