Yego breaks his record, again
What you need to know:
- Yego’s managed a big throw of 87.71m to erase his previous mark of 86.88m that he set eight days earlier at the Ostrava IAAF World Challenge meeting in the Czech Republic.
- “The competition was very tight here and breaking the national record that I set only a week ago has come as a big surprise for me,” said Yego who is the only Kenyan field event athlete with a Commonwealth Games title.
Rome
Kenya’s sensational javelin thrower Julius Yego upheld his current hot streak by breaking his week-old national record even as he wound up second at the Rome Golden Gala IAAF Diamond League meeting on Thursday night.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion’s great performance came on a disappointing night out for Kenyan athletes who only managed to win one in the six events that they participated in.
Yego’s managed a big throw of 87.71m to erase his previous mark of 86.88m that he set eight days earlier at the Ostrava IAAF World Challenge meeting in the Czech Republic.
However, Yego’s remarkable effort was not good enough to guarantee victory falling short of 2013 world champion Vítezslav Vesely’s (Czech Republic) season best throw of 88.14m.
Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago finished third with a throw of 86.20m.
Yego’s feat at the Olympic Stadium was the seventh time the African Champion has broken the national record.
BIG SURPRISE
“The competition was very tight here and breaking the national record that I set only a week ago has come as a big surprise for me,” said Yego who is the only Kenyan field event athlete with a Commonwealth Games title.
“But I think I put in a 90 percent effort tonight (Thursday) meaning that I intend to improve on this performance in the coming meetings,” added the policeman attached to Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI).
The 2012 African javelin champion said he hoped to maintain his great form in preparation for the 2015 Athletics World Championships due in August in Beijing, China.
The 26-year-old, who aims to attain a throw of 88m before the World Championships, started the season on a low note finishing sixth at the Doha Diamond League last month with a throw of 81.98m, but has since improved in subsequent IAAF meetings.
Little wonder that at the end of the event Yego was the surprise news maker of the night as journalists drawn from the international media mobbed him eager to get some punchy sound bite.
