Yego storms Lausanne, seeks first Diamond League win in eight years
Five-time African Javelin champion, Julius Yego will be looking to secure his first win in the Javelin event at a Diamond League meeting in eight years when he files out at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday for the 49th edition of Athletissima, the 11th leg of the 15-leg Wanda Diamond League meetings, athletics’ premier one-day series.
The Kenyan, who finished fifth at the Paris 2024 Olympics, eight years after winning the silver medal in the event at the 2016 Olympics, will be making his second appearance this year in the money-spinning event on Thursday in Lausanne and hopes he can recreate the scenario that got him victory (84.68m) in 2016 at the Prefontaine Classic held at the Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon, USA.
It was Yego’s second win at the Diamond League meetings after throwing 91.39m to win at the Birmingham British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham in June 2015, just before he made history as the second African man to win a Javelin throw title at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China.
Now 35, Yego will be looking to prove age is just a number and as he launches his bid to make it to the final of the event in Brussels.
He has garnered just one point from his eighth place finish in Doha, Qatar in May and a win on Thursday will move him up the ladder and at least up to sixth, the last qualifying spot for the final.
With just two qualifying meetings left, the reigning African Games champion knows he can throw himself into reckoning and compete in the final where earning a wild card entry to next year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan will be one of the rewards in addition to a US$30’000 top prize money.
