Johannes Vetter contests the javelin at the Golden Spike in Ostrava (© AFP / Getty Images)
A javelin head-to-head between Johannes Vetter and Anderson Peters is among the top-class clashes announced for the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meetings in Hengelo and Turku next month.
Germany’s 2017 world champion Vetter threw 97.76m in Chorzow in 2020 to record the second-best ever throw behind world record-holder Jan Zelezny’s 98.48m from 1996. Grenada’s 2019 world gold medallist Peters, meanwhile, threw 93.07m in Doha earlier this month to launch himself to fifth on the world all-time list.
After doing battle at the Golden Spike Ostrava on 31 May, the pair will meet again on 6 June at the FBK Games in Hengelo, where the meeting record of 83.90m looks set to fall.
Vetter and Peters have already been announced for the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku on 14 June, when they will also clash with India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra plus Germany’s Andreas Hofmann and Julian Weber.
There will be some fierce action on the track in Hengelo, too, as Canada’s Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse goes up against Jamaica’s 2011 world 100m champion Yohan Blake in the shorter sprint.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Dutch record-holder Nadine Visser will take on USA’s world champion Nia Ali, while the women’s 800m will feature a clash of global champions as Kenya’s Olympic 1500m gold medallist Faith Kipyegon faces Uganda’s world 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi.
As well as these stars, the FBK Games has already announced Dafne Schippers (100m), Femke Bol (400m hurdles), Lieke Klaver (400m), Liemarvin Bonevacia (400m) and world pole vault record-holder Mondo Duplantis.
Along with its world-class javelin contest, the Paavo Nurmi Games will feature a strong women’s high jump field. Australia's Olympic silver medallist Nicola Dermott will jump against her compatriot Eleanor Patterson, plus Ukraine’s Yuliya Levchenko and Iryna Gerashchenko and Finland’s Ella Junnila.
In the women’s pole vault, Finland’s Wilma Murto competes on home soil against Ukraine’s Maryna Kylypko and Yana Hladiychuk.
