It was a tough morning for former world champion Julius Yego at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Friday.
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Having graced several global podiums, the Kenyan, who is affectionately known as Mr YouTube after learning how to refine his javelin technique through online videos, crashed out in qualifying.
Yego’s best attempt in Friday morning’s qualification was 78.42m, which saw him finishing 17th overall and missing out on Sunday’s final, with only the top 12 going through.
“The result, the performance is not pleasing but I have to accept it. That’s the way it is,” said a dejected Yego afterwards. “But I accept it. That is what I could do today, now it’s focusing on new things.”
Yego topped the podium at the Commonwealth Games back in 2014 before claiming the world title in 2015 in Beijing with a massive throw of 92.72m which placed him sixth on the all-time list. He followed that up with Olympic silver in Rio the following year. But things didn’t come together for the 34-year-old to produce a repeat performance in Budapest, having also missed out on the World Championships final in Oregon last year.
“It was a good competition, being able to compete again at this stage after a long time so I enjoyed the competition but my performance was not pleasing.
“Of course in javelin we have new emerging talents coming in every year and every year you have new challenges.
“It was the same when I came up in 2013 until when I won in 2015 and continued in 2016 with Olympic silver. That was the time when I was doing really well. We have new talents coming up across the globe. I think the javelin has really gone global. It was major in Europe of course but now it’s diverse, it’s everywhere.”
Proving his point was the fact that India’s Neeraj Chopra topped Group A in qualifying with a first-round throw of 88.77m while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem was top of Group B with 86.79m.
Asked what the rest of the season holds, Yego reckoned: “Of course when I go back home I have to decide what to do because I'm healthy now. I think I can still compete and then I’ll wait to see what my manager says – if it is having a rest now and focusing on next season, I will be ready for that.
“For me, I am happy because I have completed the competition healthy so that is exciting for me. To finish the competition healthy without any problems is a boost so that keeps me going.”
Meanwhile, competing at his first World Championships, South Africa’s Douw Smit also missed out on a spot in the javelin final after a best effort of 75.03m. Just being in Budapest is something of a triumph for Smit, however, after showing great promise as a youngster but then struggling with a back injury for five years.
“I’m not satisfied. I wished to go to the finals but it’s one of those things,” he said. “It’s the Olympics next year and I’m just going to prep now and hopefully next year it’s my time…
“I had a back injury so I thought I would never throw again. Then my coach told me let’s just check because I was done studying so I was deciding whether I would go and work or give it another try again. Then it went to plan so I hoped for more today because I threw 83m this year and automatic qualifying [for the final] was 83m today but it’s one of those things.”
Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman was the only African athlete to make it through to Friday night’s javelin final with a first-round throw of 80.75m to finish eighth overall.
Friday night’s session will see South Africa’s sprinters looking for redemption in the men’s 4x100m relay heats at 7.41pm, which will also feature Nigeria. Ivory Coast and Nigerian teams will take to the track for the women’s 4x100m relay heats at 8.09pm. South Africa’s Jo-Ane van Dyk will be in action in the women’s javelin final, starting at 8.20pm.
Several African stars will also be in action in the women’s 800m semifinals, starting at 8.25pm before the highlight for the evening – the women’s and men’s 200m finals where Botswana’s young gun Letsile Tebogo will be hoping to add to the silver medal he claimed in the 100m final last Sunday.