Johannes VETTER

Last updated: 7 September 2020

Born: Dresden, 26 March 1993. Coach: Boris Obergfoll.

Ever since his late teens, Johannes Vetter had shown promise as a javelin thrower.

In 2011, at the age of 18, he earned selection to represent Germany at the European U20 Championships in Tallinn, his first major international event. He set a PB of 71.60m in qualifying but was unable to match that mark in the final and eventually finished 12th.

Injury prevented him from having a full season in his last year as an U20 athlete, but he returned to top form in 2013 and started to improve again, throwing 76.58m and then 79.75m one year later.

Keen to break through to 80-metre territory and address his inconsistency, Vetter relocated from Dresden to Offenburg – a journey of about 600km – to be coached by Boris Obergfoll, the two-time world bronze medallist.

“I was impressed not only by his technical knowledge, but also his approach to the mental side of competition,” says Vetter. "On top of that, he was also a world-class thrower and understands what it is like to perform at the highest level.”

Anticipating a punishing training schedule in order to push through to the next level, Vetter was surprised when he saw Obergfoll’s plan. “I was used to a very rigorous regime, so I asked Boris, ‘are you sure we train enough?’ Yet for him his training is all about looking after an athlete. It is a smart approach which includes a lot of physio treatment and making sure the body is in the best possible shape. I’ve also made many technical changes since being with Boris.”

The move paid off, and in just his second competition of the 2015 season, Vetter smashed through the 80-metre barrier with a PB of 82.13m. By the end of that season, he had improved to 85.40m and placed seventh in the World Championships final.

His progress continued in 2016. Although he finished fourth at the high-quality German Championships, he had impressed earlier in the season with a PB of 87.11m and then improved to 88.23m just one week after the German Championships, performances which eventually led to his selection for the Olympic Games.

He finished fourth in the Olympic final, just six centimetres shy of bronze and 64 centimetres down on his mark from the qualifying round. But, determined to end his year on a high, he rebounded at Berlin’s ISTAF meeting and won with a PB of 89.57m, beating compatriot and Olympic champion Thomas Rohler in the process.

The combination of Olympic disappointment and PB elation proved the perfect cocktail heading into 2017. He consistently produced big throws and top-three finishes on the international circuit, but he sent shockwaves through the athletics world on 11 July 2017 in Luzern when he unleashed an almighty 94.44m, breaking the German record.

Tipped to take gold at the World Championships in London one month later, Vetter lived up to expectation and was victorious with 89.89m.

Vetter’s 2018 season started well, throwing beyond 90 metres in three of his first four competitions, but he struggled to find his rhythm at the European Championships on home soil in Berlin and finished fifth.

His 2019 campaign was hampered slightly by injury struggles, but he managed to salvage a 90.03m season’s best before going on to take the bronze medal at the World Championships in Doha.

With those injuries now behind him, Vetter has been unstoppable in 2020 with a string of seven victories, three competitions beyond 90 metres, and a national record of 97.76m.

Stats

Vetter’s progression
2009: 58.10m (700g)
2010: 68.73m (700g), 51.77m
2011: 71.60m
2012: 61.39m
2013: 76.58m
2014: 79.75m
2015: 85.40m
2016: 89.57m
2017: 94.44m
2018: 92.70m
2019: 90.03m
2020: 97.76m

World javelin all-time list
98.48m Jan Zelezny (CZE) Jena 1996
97.76m Johannes Vetter (GER) Silesia 2020
93.90m Thomas Rohler (GER) Doha 2017
93.09m Aki Parviainen (FIN) Kuortane 1999
92.72m Julius Yego (KEN) Beijing 2015
92.61m Sergey Makarov (RUS) Sheffield 2002
92.60m Raymond Hecht (GER) Oslo 1995
92.06m Andreas Hofmann (GER) Offenburg 2018
91.69m Konstantinos Gatsioudis (GER) Kuortane 2000
91.59m Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR) Oslo 2006

Most prolific 90-metre throwers
53 Jan Zelezny
16 Johannes Vetter
9 Thomas Rohler
8 Andreas Thorkildsen
8 Aki Parviainen
6 Sergey Makarov
6 Raymond Hecht
6 Tero Pitkamaki
5 Andreas Hofmann
3 Vadims Vasilevskis
3 Konstantinos Gatsioudis
(including ancillary marks)