Sports
Roneil Walcott
Thirteen years after stunning the world to win Olympic gold in the men’s javelin event, Trinidad and Tobago star Keshorn Walcott hurled himself to the top of the world stage again when he clinched victory in the javelin final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on September 18.
The two-time Olympic medallist has been chasing a world championships medal for many years, and delivered in rainy conditions in the Tokyo final with a season’s best throw of 88.16 metres on his fourth attempt.
After opening up the competition with an 81.22m effort on his first throw, Walcott assumed the lead with a big 87.83m heave on his second attempt. With Grenadian star Anderson Peters (87.38m) threatening to reel in Walcott, the Toco-born athlete produced his best in the fourth round to increase his lead with the 88.16m distance.
Walcott also threw a solid 85.84m attempt on his fifth throw, but didn’t need any more metres as his fourth-round effort was good enough to land gold in epic fashion for TT.
Peters grabbed the silver medal, while USA’s Curtis Thompson seized bronze with a throw of 86.67m.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the gold medallist from the Paris 2024 Olympics, placed tenth in 82.75m, with the Paris silver medallist Neeraj Chopra placing eighth with 84.03m.
