Andreas Thorkildsen wins his second successive Olympic javelin title (© Getty Images)
Reigning Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR) comes to Berlin as a clear favourite following a strong showing in his recent competitions.
The double Olympic champion who also won the 2006 European title has found World Championships gold elusive, having finished second in both 2005 and 2007. The 27-year-old Norwegian has won his last four competitions with impressive results and came close to his season’s best winning the national championships on 2 August with an 88.55m throw. Thorkildsen’s best throw of the season came in June in Seinäjoki where he beat the reigning World Champion Tero Pitkämäki (FIN) with an 88.97m effort.
Pitkämäki, who also won the bronze medal at the Olympics, heads maybe the strongest ever Finnish javelin team to the World Championships. Four Finnish throwers and even the fifth reserve athlete in case of injury, are all capable of taking a medal in Berlin. Reigning champion Pitkämäki has reached good form before the World Championships having thrown an 87.79m season’s best in Lapinlahti in late July. The 26-year-old could only finish third in a high standard and rainy final at the national championships with an 84.28m best there, but had to stop his competition after two rounds following a minor injury.
This year’s Finnish champion, 25-year-old Teemu Wirkkala, was fifth at his first Olympics last season, but 2009 has really seen major progress. Wirkkala, who threw 84m in both 2007 and 2008 has transformed from an inconsistent thrower with a lot of potential to a firm competitor in 2009. The Finn has thrown at least 82 metres in all his meets since the beginning of June, and a personal best 87.23m from Joensuu in July. A huge series in rainy conditions at the national championships makes him a real candidate for a medal and perhaps even a win in Berlin.
The other two Finns are Antti Ruuskanen and Tero Järvenpää. Ruuskanen enters his first major championships having finished third at the national championships with a good 84.64m mark. Ruuskanen, who has an 85.03m personal best from July, has also left inconsistency behind and had several good throws in his last few meets. Järvenpää on the other hand has had some major problems this season. Ending up with a disappointing fourth place in Beijing, the 2009 season has been difficult. Järvenpää has only competed four times with his best of 82.65m coming in June, his only 80m throw of the season, but he did have a very narrow foul of 85m at the national championships where he finished 8th with a 78.26m result.
Another medal candidate, the world leading thrower this season with 90.71m comes from Latvia. Vadims Vasilevskis won 2004 Olympic silver behind Thorkildsen, but hasn’t won a medal since in major championships. His 90m throw this season came in May and the Latvian didn’t impress in international competition in June or July before Athens (13 July) where he unleashed another good throw of 88.33m for the win. But none of the other big names competed in Athens and the Latvian has had problems competing against Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki, not having beaten either in 2009.
Another Latvian not to forget is Olympic silver medallist Ainars Kovals. Kovals, who produced an 86.64m personal best in Beijing in the last round out of the blue has not been in the spotlight this summer. But Kovals wasn’t impressive before Beijing either and ended up on the podium there. The 27-year-old has a best of 82.47m this season which is actually a couple of metres more than he had thrown prior to the Olympics.
Russia also fields a strong trio - Sergey Makarov, Ilya Korotkov and Aleksandr Ivanov. Korotkov was the only Russian to make the final in Beijing where he finished in 7th place. One more name to mention is Adrian Markowski who won the Polish Championships with a big personal bes of 84.85m in August.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
The double Olympic champion who also won the 2006 European title has found World Championships gold elusive, having finished second in both 2005 and 2007. The 27-year-old Norwegian has won his last four competitions with impressive results and came close to his season’s best winning the national championships on 2 August with an 88.55m throw. Thorkildsen’s best throw of the season came in June in Seinäjoki where he beat the reigning World Champion Tero Pitkämäki (FIN) with an 88.97m effort.
Pitkämäki, who also won the bronze medal at the Olympics, heads maybe the strongest ever Finnish javelin team to the World Championships. Four Finnish throwers and even the fifth reserve athlete in case of injury, are all capable of taking a medal in Berlin. Reigning champion Pitkämäki has reached good form before the World Championships having thrown an 87.79m season’s best in Lapinlahti in late July. The 26-year-old could only finish third in a high standard and rainy final at the national championships with an 84.28m best there, but had to stop his competition after two rounds following a minor injury.
This year’s Finnish champion, 25-year-old Teemu Wirkkala, was fifth at his first Olympics last season, but 2009 has really seen major progress. Wirkkala, who threw 84m in both 2007 and 2008 has transformed from an inconsistent thrower with a lot of potential to a firm competitor in 2009. The Finn has thrown at least 82 metres in all his meets since the beginning of June, and a personal best 87.23m from Joensuu in July. A huge series in rainy conditions at the national championships makes him a real candidate for a medal and perhaps even a win in Berlin.
The other two Finns are Antti Ruuskanen and Tero Järvenpää. Ruuskanen enters his first major championships having finished third at the national championships with a good 84.64m mark. Ruuskanen, who has an 85.03m personal best from July, has also left inconsistency behind and had several good throws in his last few meets. Järvenpää on the other hand has had some major problems this season. Ending up with a disappointing fourth place in Beijing, the 2009 season has been difficult. Järvenpää has only competed four times with his best of 82.65m coming in June, his only 80m throw of the season, but he did have a very narrow foul of 85m at the national championships where he finished 8th with a 78.26m result.
Another medal candidate, the world leading thrower this season with 90.71m comes from Latvia. Vadims Vasilevskis won 2004 Olympic silver behind Thorkildsen, but hasn’t won a medal since in major championships. His 90m throw this season came in May and the Latvian didn’t impress in international competition in June or July before Athens (13 July) where he unleashed another good throw of 88.33m for the win. But none of the other big names competed in Athens and the Latvian has had problems competing against Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki, not having beaten either in 2009.
Another Latvian not to forget is Olympic silver medallist Ainars Kovals. Kovals, who produced an 86.64m personal best in Beijing in the last round out of the blue has not been in the spotlight this summer. But Kovals wasn’t impressive before Beijing either and ended up on the podium there. The 27-year-old has a best of 82.47m this season which is actually a couple of metres more than he had thrown prior to the Olympics.
Russia also fields a strong trio - Sergey Makarov, Ilya Korotkov and Aleksandr Ivanov. Korotkov was the only Russian to make the final in Beijing where he finished in 7th place. One more name to mention is Adrian Markowski who won the Polish Championships with a big personal bes of 84.85m in August.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
