Julius Yego sneaks into javelin final in Doha

Kenya's Julius Yego competes in the men's Javelin throw heats at the 2019 IAAF Athletics World Championships at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha on October 5, 2019. PHOTO | ANDREJ ISAKOVIC |

What you need to know:

  • Yego, who competed in the first qualification round, threw a distance of 83.86 metres to finish fifth in his cluster which had 16 athletes.

IN DOHA

The 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego Saturday evening sneaked into the qualification for men’s final at the 2019 World Championships here in Doha.

Yego, who competed in the first qualification round, threw a distance of 83.86 metres to finish fifth in his cluster which had 16 athletes. The second qualification round had only three automatic qualifiers - Magnus Kirt (Estonia, 88.36m), kim Amb (Sweden, 84.85m) and Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago, 84.44m).

Yego advanced to Sunday's final as one of the best losers in the qualifying round. Germany's gold medal favourite Johannes Vetter needed one throw to confirm his place in the final from Heat One, after posting a giant 89.35m thrown. Grenada's Anderson Peters threw 85.34m while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic posted 84.31 to also qualify.

QUALIFYING MARK

Competitors were required to throw a distance of 84m to automatically qualify for the final.

“I have not attained the qualifying distance in my qualification heat and I am waiting to see how the others perform in the next qualification heat to know my fate. I believe I will make the final because I had just a small distance left to hit 84m. Hopefully, not more than nine guys hit that mark,” the 30-year-old Yego told Nation Sport in Doha moments before he confirmed his qualification.

“Nothing affected me in the qualification heat. It is just part of the competition. Sometimes you do well and sometimes you fall short of your expectations,” Yego, Team Kenya's captain in Doha, added.

Twelve throwers will be in Sunday's final that kicks off at 7.55pm.

Four years ago at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Yego threw a distance of 92.72m to win Kenya's only medal in the event.