Johannes Vetter extended his win streak to 17 competitions at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Luzern, Switzerland on Tuesday (29) evening, a World Athletics Continental Tour meeting.
And while the German didn’t make any improvement on his meeting record of 94.44m, Vetter still notched up an unprecedented seventh successive competition in excess of the 90 metre-line.
After opening his series with 89.19m which would have sufficed for victory by more than four metres, Vetter further strengthened his position with back-to-back throws in excess of the 90 metre-line before passing his final three attempts.
Vetter produced his winning effort in the second round with 92.14m before surpassing the 90 metre-line on his third attempt with 91.36m. With the Olympic Games less than a month away, Vetter remains the only thrower to have surpassed the 90 metre-line - a feat he has achieved in seven of his eight competitions in 2021 and with 12 throws in total.
Former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad & Tobago finished second with 85.16m with Germany’s Julian Weber third with a season’s best of 84.95m.
Fellow German Andreas Hofmann has surpassed the 90 metre-line in seasons gone by but the European silver medallist isn’t quite in this shape less than six months after undergoing elbow surgery. In his first competition of the season, Hofmann finished fourth with 78.26m.
European champion Christin Hussong was similarly dominant in the women’s javelin to make it a double for Germany in this event.
Five of Hussong’s six throws would have proved sufficient for victory in Luzern ahead of Tatsiana Khaladovich, her predecessor as European champion. Hussong’s best throw landed at 64.02m for a near-three metre victory ahead of Khaladovich with 60.31m.
The theme of German success continued onto the track. Carolina Krafzik won the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.55 and there were victories in the middle distances for Christina Hering in the 800m in 2:00.04 and for Robert Farken in the 1500m in 3:36.80.
From a domestic standpoint, the highlights were European bronze medallist Alex Wilson winning the 200m in 20.64 and teenager Ditaji Kambundji winning the 100m hurdles in 13.11 just over two weeks until the Tallinn 2021 European Athletics U20 Championships.
Full results here.