21st May 2013 04:00
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| Former world champion Tero Pitkamaki of Finland. (Getty Images) |
Not many people will immediately know the significance of this Saturday unless they are flicking through the history books of track and field.
But at around 3pm, it will mark the 17th anniversary of one of the longest-standing world records.
The German city of Jena was the venue back on May 25 1996 for Jan Zelezny to launch the greatest javelin throw the sport has seen.
As the spear left his right hand, the small crowd did not pay too much notice before realising within an instant how special a moment it was.
The Czech athlete had thrown 98.48metres, and to this day that mark has never been touched.
Variations in the make of javelin have changed but even the 90m barrier now remains tough for the world’s best.
It was not passed in 2012 and only Andreas Thorkildsen did it once in 2011 (with 90.61m) and once in 2010 (with 90.37m).
But another man could now be ready to turn back the clock having produced his best performance since 2009 to win the event at the IAAF Diamond League in Shanghai on Saturday evening.
Not since his 87.79m in Lapinlahti in 2009 has Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki thrown as well as he did in China when he reached 87.60m.
It could prove to be the best year of his life as he heads towards the World Championships in Moscow as the early favourite.
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THE WEEK JUST GONE
What a fabulous time for European athletes in Shanghai at the IAAF Diamond League. There were a series of outstanding performances, with triumphs for Yelena Isinbayeva (pole vault), Tero Pitkamaki (javelin), Christina Schwanitz (shot put), Piotr Malacowski (discus) and Zuzana Hejnova (400m hurdles). Twenty-four hours later on Sunday, at the European Cup Race Walking in Dudince, Slovakia, there were nine of 10 victories for Russian athletes.
THE WEEK AHEAD
A busy one across Europe and in the USA too, as New York stages the third Diamond League meeting of the season on Saturday. But by the time the event starts, European time, there will be an early indication of who is leading at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis where Russia’s world champion Tatyana Chernova heads the field in the heptathlon and decathlete Roman Sebrle, the 2004 Olympic champion and double European champion from the Czech Republic, competes at the meeting for the final time.
EUROPEAN LEADERS – Javelin
Men
11. Tero Pitkamaki (FIN) 87.60m, Shanghai
22. Vitezslav Vesely (CZE) 86.67m, Shanghai
33. Dmitriy Tarabin (RUS) 85.63m, Adler
Women
11. Mariya Abakumova (RUS) 69.34m, Castellon
22. Vira Rebryk (UKR) 63.42m, Castellon
33. Viktoriya Sudarushkina (RUS) 62.77m, Liepaja
BIRTHDAYS:
20.5.2013 - Ji…™ina Svobodová (CZE) - the reigning European pole vault champion turns 27
25.05.2013 – Stefano Baldini (ITA) - the former Olympic and European walk champion turns 41
25.05.2013 - Stefan Holm (SWE) - t