Sri Lanka’s javelin star Rumesh Tharanga has broken into the top five of the men’s javelin throw world rankings, climbing two places to fifth with an Average Performance Score of 1,287, Newswire reported on Thursday.
The breakthrough caps a recent run of strong international performances by the thrower, headlined by his silver medal at the Rabat Diamond League on Monday, where he produced a throw of 85.97 metres. Newswire said the Rabat result contributed significantly to his rise in the rankings.
Germany’s Julian Weber currently leads the global standings, with Tharanga now joining the elite group of five athletes at the top of the discipline. The new position is the highest any Sri Lankan javelin athlete has held in the World Athletics ranking system.
The advance follows Tharanga’s earlier move to seventh in the world rankings in May, which itself came after a series of 89-metre-plus throws including a gold-medal-winning 89.28m meet record at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi. World Athletics’ rolling ranking formula rewards both peak distances and consistency across recent meets.
Tharanga’s climb sets him up as a credible medal contender for the remaining Diamond League legs and the year’s global championships, where Sri Lanka has not had a podium-level javelin presence in recent memory.
