Budapest 23 x Throws Preview: Men's Javelin
By Kara Winger
Four-time Olympian, nine-time U.S. national champion, and 2022 Diamond League Final winner Kara Winger provides us with her insight ahead of the throwing competition at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Who will be crowned this year’s world champions? Follow along all week for Kara’s previews before tuning in to watch the meet on NBC and Peacock (which will also have some additional streams of field event finals).
Men’s Javelin
Tokyo Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra earned silver at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon at Hayward Field. Photo by Jake Willard
Qualification Round: Friday, 8/25 | Group A – 1:10am PT, Group B – 2:45am PT
Final Round: Sunday, 8/27 | 11:15am PT
Like the women’s javelin, it’s wide open. I’ve said it about a lot of throws so far in Budapest but it’s so true here as well: There might be favorites, but it’s anyone’s game!
Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic - trained by javelin greatest of all time, Jan Zelezny - has been showing great form all season. The world leader at 89.51m is the Tokyo silver medalist, and has reached the podium twice at Worlds: Silver in London in 2017 and bronze in Eugene in 2022. The two-time Diamond League Final winner (2016 and 2017) leads the standings in the 2023 edition of the series, and has been more consistent in the regular season this year than past showings. Jakub’s global championship success and longevity speak for themselves, but I’m excited that his bottom level seems to have gotten higher this year, and will be watching closely to see if that means he can set a new PB (currently 90.88m from Doha last year) and finally reach the top of the podium.
The man chasing close behind Jakub on the Diamond League standings is Germany’s Julian Weber, second on the world list with 88.72m. The 2022 European champion has been German champion three years in a row, an impressive feat when you know he contends with the likes of Andreas Hoffman, Johannes Vetter, and Thomas Rohler for that title. Julian has finished fourth on the global stage for the last two years (Tokyo and Eugene), so I can’t wait to see what the chip on his shoulder will mean here in Budapest. He also finished sixth in Doha in 2019. His longevity, development in a country rife with javelin talent, and international and continental career success so far mean he is absolutely one to watch.
Tokyo Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India has only competed twice this year, but both efforts were beyond 87.50m, and he sits third on the world list with his SB of 88.67m to win the Doha Diamond League meeting. In earning silver in Eugene, Neeraj suffered an injury, but returned to claim Diamond League Final victory in Zurich at the end of the 2022 season anyway. His PB, the Indian national record of 89.94m, is agonizingly close to the prestigious 90m mark, and I believe that his experience (he’s also the youth world record holder…been around a while even though he’s merely 25), excellent record at major championships, and resilience (he’s had many major injuries like me!) all might mean that mark finally gets surpassed here in Budapest.
Just like on the women’s side, the Doha World Champion repeated in Eugene last year: Anderson Peters of Grenada sits fifth on the World all-time list with his PB of 93.07m, set in 2022. His season’s best of 85.88m is well behind what his consistent 2022 results were, but he’s comfortable on a World Championship runway, and throws in the 85m range will always be dangerous in the men’s javelin.
Other former global stage champions in the field are Trinidad & Tobago’s first ever Olympic gold medalist (London 2012), Keshorn Walcott, and Beijing 2015 World Champion from Kenya, Julius Yego. Still only 30 (he won the Olympics at 19), Walcott’s SB of 85.85m and competitive marks against good fields on the year give me good feelings for his Budapest showing.
Timothy Herman of Belgium and Finland’s Oliver Helander have season’s best marks that could put them in excellent position in this competition. Herman, at 32, has thrown a massive seven meters further this season than he ever had before, and while he hasn’t been close since that 87.35m mark in May, championship pressure could bring it out of him. Helander has been an 88m thrower since 2018, impressive at only 26. Look for him to remain consistent on this stage.
I’ve been in the stadium most days here in Budapest, and the way this Hungarian crowd LOVES their athletes is so fun to watch. I am excited to see them cheer for their number 8 on the start list, Gyorgy Herczeg. He’s only 19, won European under 20 Championships earlier this month with 79.45m, and could be lifted to his 84.98m PB and beyond by not only the great season he’s having, but his very engaged home crowd.
Americans Curtis Thompson, Capers Williamson, and Ethan Dabbs have their work cut out for them to make the final. But the 83.00m auto qualifying mark and/or top 12 from qualifying is not out of reach for any of them, and Curtis especially put the work in in 2022 to be ready for this specific pressure. Capers makes his Team USATF debut, and Ethan finished up his NCAA career this spring to then nab a spot on his second straight World team!
Fun fact about Hungary and the men’s javelin: Miklos Nemeth, who was born in Budapest, is the 1976 Olympic Champion with a then-world record with the old rules implement of 94.58m. (The old rules javelin didn’t turn over as quickly as the new one: The balance point/center of gravity of the implement was four centimeters further back, letting it soar further (and typically land flatter.) Nemeth’s world record fell to another Hungarian in 1980: Ferenc Paragi with 96.72m. Miklos founded Javel-Inn Ltd. in 1987, and has been manufacturing (in my humble opinion) the world’s best javelins ever since. Look for many of them in the cart by the runway during what is sure to be a close and ever-changing men’s javelin competition!