The fifth edition of the World Javelin Conference took place again in Kuortane, Finland on 15-16 November and featured an excellent line-up of speakers, including leading athletes and coaches.
The World Javelin Conference attracted 120 participants from 22 countries and was the third of five events comprising the European Athletics Coaching Summit Series which came into being in 2008 and has been an important pillar of European Athletics’ coaching strategy.
The programme started with an opening talk from Director of the Kuortane Olympic Training Center Tapio Korjus before the floor was left to European javelin silver medallist Andreas Hofmann and his coach Lutz Klemm. They gave a presentation based on his training principles before giving a demonstration in which they put their knowledge into practice for a fascinated audience.
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Another highlight was a presentation from Uwe Hohn entitled: “The story behind 104.80m.” Hohn talked about setting the world record with the old specification javelin and also gave a training demonstration with Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell, who won the Commonwealth javelin title in Gold Coast in April.
The programme also included a presentation and a practical demonstration from leading Finnish javelin thrower Oliver Helander and his coach Glen Lignell. Helander, 21, improved his lifetime best to 88.02m this season and is very much one of the country’s future hopes in the event.
As well as talks and demonstrations from leading athletes and coaches, there were also presentations on the topics of strength training, biomechanics and field test results and functional mobility screening for throwers. There was also a presentation from CEO of Nordic Sport Dennis Osterberg on their latest javelin models.
The European Athletics Coaching Summit Series concludes on 4-6 January 2019 with the International Festival of Athletics Coaching.