Sri Lanka’s javelin star Rumesh Tharanga will headline the men’s spear event at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic on Monday, returning to international competition for the first time since his record-shattering throw in Rome.
Tharanga produced a sensational 92.62 metres at the Diamond League meeting in Rome earlier this month, setting a new Sri Lankan record and the world-leading mark for the season. The throw elevated him to eighth place on the world all-time list and made him the second-best Asian javelin thrower in history, strengthening his credentials as one of the leading contenders on the international circuit ahead of the world championship season.
In Ostrava the 23-year-old will extend his newly-formed rivalry with Grenada’s two-time world champion Anderson Peters, who finished second behind him in Rome. The rematch sets the stage for another anticipated contest between two elite throwers, though Tharanga has played down expectations of an immediate repeat performance. “I am not prepared for a big throw in Ostrava. We are still not set for peak performances,” he said in an online interview with Chathura Ranasinghe, reported by The Island.
The women’s javelin competition will also feature a deep field, led by two-time World Under-20 champion Adriana Vilagoš and including Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk — the silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — and Croatia’s Sara Kolak, the Rio 2016 Olympic champion. The Ostrava Golden Spike is a continental tour gold-level meeting and one of the calendar’s marquee post-Diamond League appointments for throwers.
The Ostrava outing is the latest in a tightly-paced international schedule for Tharanga. He won silver at the Rabat Diamond League with 85.97m on June 1 before the breakthrough Rome throw lifted him into the world’s top three, and Athletics Federation of India boss Adille Sumariwalla last week named him as the new measuring stick for Neeraj Chopra’s training group in Asia.
Sources: Tharanga set for high-profile javelin clash in Ostrava — The Island, June 15.
