After the men's Javelin qualification yesterday had been of the lowest quality in the history of World Championships, today's final actually started much better. With the qualification performed in rain, the final had good conditions.
Aki PARVIAINEN (FIN), the silver medallist from Edmonton in 2001, threw 83.05m, very close to his season's best in round one. In fact, round one saw eight of the 12 throwers get their best mark in the competition. Boris HENRY (GER) threw right after Parviainen and immediately moved to the lead with 84.74m.
However, the biggest surprise of the competition came from the next thrower, Andrus VÄRNIK (EST). Värnik unleashed an 85.17m throw to take the lead. Sergey MAKAROV (RUS), the world's leading thrower this season, was next in line and produced 85.44m for the competition to see yet another leader.
World record holder Jan ZELEZNY (CZE) opened his throwing with the javelin landing at 82.98m. At this time Steve BACKLEY (GBR), the four time European Champion, was the only one of the favourites under 80m with his 79.35m performance.
During round two nothing happened at the top of the rankings, only two athletes, Miroslav GUZDEK (CZE) with 81.40m and Christian NICOLAY (GER) 81.77m, were able to improve their results. Zelezny provided the only major news in round three, moving towards the medals to fourth. His throw was measured at 84.09m. Backley also had his best of 80.13m in this round, but was ninth and accordingly didn't get three more throws.
This was effectively the end of the competition, none of the eight throwers left could better their marks. Makarov, who had another throw over 85 metres in round six, 85.31m, finally got the major championship win he has been longing for. Surprise silver medallist was Värnik with 85.17m and Henry took the bronze with his first round effort of 84.74m. All three medallists had their best throws in round one. Zelezny was finally fourth throwing 84.09m with Parviainen, in fifth place with 83.05m.
Aki PARVIAINEN (FIN), the silver medallist from Edmonton in 2001, threw 83.05m, very close to his season's best in round one. In fact, round one saw eight of the 12 throwers get their best mark in the competition. Boris HENRY (GER) threw right after Parviainen and immediately moved to the lead with 84.74m.
However, the biggest surprise of the competition came from the next thrower, Andrus VÄRNIK (EST). Värnik unleashed an 85.17m throw to take the lead. Sergey MAKAROV (RUS), the world's leading thrower this season, was next in line and produced 85.44m for the competition to see yet another leader.
World record holder Jan ZELEZNY (CZE) opened his throwing with the javelin landing at 82.98m. At this time Steve BACKLEY (GBR), the four time European Champion, was the only one of the favourites under 80m with his 79.35m performance.
During round two nothing happened at the top of the rankings, only two athletes, Miroslav GUZDEK (CZE) with 81.40m and Christian NICOLAY (GER) 81.77m, were able to improve their results. Zelezny provided the only major news in round three, moving towards the medals to fourth. His throw was measured at 84.09m. Backley also had his best of 80.13m in this round, but was ninth and accordingly didn't get three more throws.
This was effectively the end of the competition, none of the eight throwers left could better their marks. Makarov, who had another throw over 85 metres in round six, 85.31m, finally got the major championship win he has been longing for. Surprise silver medallist was Värnik with 85.17m and Henry took the bronze with his first round effort of 84.74m. All three medallists had their best throws in round one. Zelezny was finally fourth throwing 84.09m with Parviainen, in fifth place with 83.05m.
