News11 Feb 2016


Clash of the global javelin medallists in Ostrava

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Kenyan javelin thrower Julius Yego (© Getty Images)

Organisers of the Golden Spike in Ostrava have announced that world champion Julius Yego, world silver medallist Ihab Abdelrahman and 2013 world champion Vitezslav Vesely will clash in the javelin at the IAAF World Challenge meeting on 20 May.

Yego’s first victory of 2015 came at this meeting last year, throwing what was then a Kenyan record of 86.88m to beat the likes of Abdelrahman and Vesely. The performance earned him the ‘Jan Zelezny trophy’, an award given to the best performer of the meeting.

He went on to improve on that mark on several occasions throughout the year, culminating with his stunning 92.72m victory at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.

Having twice thrown beyond 90 metres, Yego feels it’s possible he could do so again in Ostrava.

“My super summer of 2015 started in Ostrava and I beat lot of good throwers,” he said. “It was a special moment to get the Jan Zelezny trophy. Now I am coming back to Ostrava as a world champion. I am sure we will see more 90-metre throws in 2016 than we did in 2015, and hopefully in Ostrava.”

Vesely is one of four Czech throwers set to compete in Ostrava. He will be joined by national champion Jakub Vadlejch, 2010 Golden Spike winner Petr Frydrych and 81.45m thrower Jaroslav Jilek.

Organisers for the IAAF