Kara Winger (© How Lao / WCH Oregon22)
Kara Winger has been the face of women’s javelin throwing in the United States for more than a decade.
So, who better to win the United States’ first javelin medal in a World Athletics Championships than Winger?
Winger, who is 36, is retiring after this season. When she got on the runaway at the reimagined Hayward Field at the University of Oregon for her final throw Friday night, she was in fifth place.
The smile on her face almost told the crowd watching the first World Athletics Championships on U.S. soil what was to come.
“I don’t do well under pressure when I’m really hard on myself,” Winger said. “Looking around and really remembering every moment I’ve ever had at Hayward Field is what helped me do well at nationals. I tried to do exactly the same thing in qualifying and in finals today.”
At the U.S. Outdoor Championships, Winger assured herself a trip to WCH Oregon22 when she reached the World Athletics Championship standard of 64m with a throw of 64.26m on the final throw of the competition.
“That just very recent, you-can-do-it moment was really helpful for the last throw tonight,” Winger said.
Winger rocketed the javelin out to 64.05m on that final attempt, jumping from fifth place to second place and a silver medal and leaping into American history.
“I’m so happy for Kara,” said Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber, who won her second-straight World Athletics Championships gold medal with a throw of 66.91m. “She’s a friend, she’s been on the circuit since I started this, and to watch her journey the last couple of years, coming back from a second knee injury, I’m so happy to stand on the podium with her. Unbelievable. What a way to go out.”
Two ACL tears took their toll on Winger throughout her career. But every time she got knocked down, she came back again until she was able to go out on top.
“My victory tour continues, and I'm just amazed these results are coming after my second ACL tear,” Winger said. “Making the decision for my husband to coach me, and really just trying to enjoy this last season. That’s my message. Enjoy the process, have the right people and when you do the right stuff, good victory can come.”
Victories came often when Winger was healthy. She won nine national titles with her first one in 2008 at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field when she made her first Olympic team. Winger set the American record of 66.67m in 2010 and held it for nearly 11 years when Maggie Malone broke it in 2021.
Winger qualified for the past four U.S. Olympic teams but never made it to finals of the Olympics. She made her first World Athletics Championships team in 2009 and was appearing in her sixth World Athletics Championships this week, having competed in all of them since 2009 except for the 2013 Championships in Moscow. Her best finishes were a fifth-place at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, and an eighth-place finish in 2015 in Beijing.
“I thought about my first knee injury and how it derailed my ultimate potential in a lot of ways over my career,” Winger said. “Like what could I have done if I hadn’t had that devastating injury at 26 and had to battle back from it so early when I had so much promise?
“To still be here, that’s part of what this season was. To be fully healthy again and just have a great time for one more season. And I want to show younger throwers that if you stick around, you can have really cool dreams come true even if they weren’t what you originally imagined.”
On Friday, Mackenzie Little, the former Stanford college star from Australia who barely qualified for the final, took the early lead when she threw a personal-best 63.22m on her first throw.
Barber quickly settled into second, and Winger moved into fourth with her second-round throw of 61.96m. In the third round, Barber turned the pressure up with her winning throw of 66.91m. China’s Shiying Liu, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, moved into second in the fourth round when she threw 63.25m.
In the final round, Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi moved into second with a throw of 63.27m, bumping Liu to third, Little to fourth and Winger, who improved to 62.15m in the fifth round, to fifth.
Could Winger, who grew up in Vancouver, Washington, on her final throw in a major global championship meet, summon up one last throw, spurred on by a partisan home crowd?
“I’ve torn my ACL in this stadium, made all four Olympic teams in this stadium,” Winger said. “I’ve had fantastic last-second victories and heart-breaking defeats, so walking in here it feels like I’m my truest self in this stadium, on this runway.
“I felt like every single person in that stadium was cheering for me, so why wouldn’t I be happy about that?”
And she gave the crowd plenty to be happy about when her final throw landed near the 65m mark. Then Winger and everyone in the stadium waited for the measurement to confirm what many already knew.
“I walked into this meet, this season very much at peace with whatever happened,” Winger said. “I’ve always known that that’s in me. So, to actually have that come true, is extremely gratifying in front of a home crowd.”
Winger’s silver-medal performance capped a remarkable performance by American women’s throwers at WCH Oregon22. U.S. women entered the meet leading the world in all four throwing disciplines —Malone was the world leader in the javelin but didn’t advance out of Wednesday’s qualifying.
On the second day of the meet, Chase Ealey gave the United States its first World Athletics Championships gold medal in the shot put. A day later, Brooke Andersen and Janee’ Kassanavoid went 1-3 in the hammer, the first time two Americans won medals in the same Championships. On Wednesday, 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Val Allman took the bronze medal in the discus, the first World Athletics Championships medal for the U.S. in that event.
“I absolutely knew that every other thrower on the women’s side had gotten a medal at these Championships, so that was definitely on my mind coming into this final,” Winger said. “I’m so thrilled to round out those four events with medals for all the women. Just huge shoutout to my fellow women throwers.”
Ealey, Andersen, and Allman are beginning to take their place as the American face of their events, just like Winger has done since she was 24, holding that position for 12 years.
“I didn’t medal at World Championships until I was 36," Winger said. “Until I had six throws, until I made my third final, and I got a little bit better in that final every time. Stick around. Hone your skill, enjoy the process and it can happen. I’m super proud to have played that role in the javelin.”
By Ashley Conklin
