World Championships: Women's javelin
The first javelin final, in Helsinki in 1993, produced one of the most memorable images as home athlete Tiina Lillak unleashed her winning throw in the final round and then launched a wildly ecstatic lap of honour even though the competition wasn’t over.
Not at her best with tonsillitis, Fatima Whitbread only scraped the last place in the final by 32 centimetres. In the final, she went into the lead with a 69.14m opening throw. That was still the lead when she passed her last throw, although Lillak, who had been second with 67.46m, sent her javelin to 70.82m, much to the delight of the javelin- loving Finns, who made a huge noise as she threw and a bigger one when it landed.
The order of throwing for the final three rounds was not according to first-half positions, as is the case now, and the only throw after Lillak celebrated was that of 1984 Olympic champion Tessa Sanderson, who stayed in fourth with a poor final throw.
Whitbread broke the world record in 1986 and was favourite for Rome in 1987 despite a shoulder problem. In the first two rounds, though, Petra Felke started the better with throws of 70.30m and 71.76m. Whitbread improved throughout though with 69.02m in round two being superseded by a 71.34m in round three to go close and then the third best throw ever of 73.16m to take the lead. However, Whitbread wasn’t finished and a huge 76.64m gave her gold by nearly five metres. Sanderson was again fourth, while Lillak was sixth.
The 1991 final in Tokyo saw a surprise win for China’s Xu Demei, who threw 68.78m in the first round, with Petra Meier-Felke just 10 centimetres back in taking her second silver medal. Germany also took bronze with Silke Renk, although Karen Forkel, who had thrown 68.14m to lead qualifying, was 10 metres down in the final and last.
Trine Hattestad, who had been fifth in Tokyo, dominated in Stuttgart in 1993 and won easily with a 69.18m opener. Forkel, who only narrowly qualified this time with 60.54m, got it right in the final to take the silver medal ahead of the Shikolenko sisters Natalya and Tatyana.
The Norwegian was pregnant by the time of Gothenburg in 1995 and gold went to the older Shikolenko sister, Natalya. A 66.48m opener and 65.48m in the fifth round would have sufficed for gold, but a 67.56m final round underlined her dominance and made up for losing the lead in the final round of the 1992 Olympics.
Hattestad was back in Athens in 1997 and won with a 68.78m opening effort. She was pressurised all the way by British-born Australian Joanna Stone, who threw 68.64m and 68.60m in the last two rounds.
Hattestad was third in Seville in 1999 with victory going to Mirela Tzelili as a new javelin specification was introduced. Greece took the title but her win was also of note in that she became the first Albanian- born athlete ever to win a world athletics title. She gained Greek citizenship by marriage in 1997.
A close second was Tatyana Shikolenko, who gave the sisters a full set of medals between them, although she was competing for Russia rather than Belarus as she had in 1993 when she was fourth.
As a teenager, Cuban Osleidys Menendez had finished fourth in Spain and then she set a world record with the new implement of 71.54m and she won very easily in Edmonton in 2001 with 69.53m. Tzelili was a distant second.
In Paris in 2003, after her divorce, Tzelili was now Manjani and she won a poor-standard competition with the four best throws, highlighted by a 66.52m. Tatyana Shikolenko added to the family medal tally with a silver three metres back.
Menendez was only fifth and then in her fifth final at the age of just 27, she regained the title thanks to a 71.70m world record with her first throw. Christina Obergföll’s response was a European record 70.03m in the second round, while Steffi Nerius won her second successive bronze.
In her sixth final, Nerius got yet another bronze in Osaka in 2007 and with Menendez injured, gold went to Czech Barbora Spotakova’s 67.07m, with Obergfoll second again.
Nerius was competing in her eighth World Championships in Berlin 2009, and her seventh final and she won her fourth medal but this time it was gold as her second best throw of her career – 67.30m – gave her the title over Spotakova.
Maria Abakumova had the best throw in Germany, but her 68.92m came in qualifying and a 66.06m in the final gave the Russian the bronze medal.
Abakumova threw only 62.49m in qualifying in Daegu in 2011, but a Russian record 71.99m gave her the gold this time with Spotakova close behind with 71.58m. Sunette Viljoen set an African record 68.38m in third. In her second final, Briton Goldie Sayers was 10th, but again couldn’t match her qualifying distance in the final.
Obergföll was only fourth in Korea and she added to her two previous silver medals with an easy 2013 win in 69.05m. Australian Kimberley Mickle set a PB 66.60m in second with Abakumova winning her third successive medal in third place.
Year | Winner | Throw | GB position and mark
1983 Tina Lillak (FIN) 70.82 2 Fatima Whitbread 69.14
1987 Fatima Whitbread (GBR) 76.64 Also: 4 Tessa Sanderson 67.54
1991 Xu Demei (CHN) 68.78 NQ Sharon Gibson 56.64
1993 Trine Hattestad (NOR) 69.18 NQ Shelley Holroyd 57.66
1995 Natalya Shikolenko (BLR) 67.56 No competitor
1997 Trine Hattestad (NOR) 68.78 NQ Tessa Sanderson 57.84
1999 Mirela Tzelili (GRE) 67.09 No competitor
2001 Osleidys Menendez (CUB) 69.53 No competitor
2003 Mirela Manjani (GRE) 66.52 No competitor
2005 Osleidys Menendez (CUB) 66.56 12 Goldie Sayers 54.44 (60.67q)
2007 Barbora Spotakova (CZE) 67.07 NQ Goldie Sayers 57.23
2009 Steffi Nerius (GER) 67.30 NQ Goldie Sayers 58.98
2011 Maria Abakumova (RUS) 71.99 10 Goldie Sayers 58.18 (62.19q)
2013 Christina Obergföll (GER) 69.05 No competitor
Points table (8 for 1st etc)
1. GER 125
2. CUB 57
3= RUS 45
3= FIN 42
5. GRE 36
6. CZE 33
7. AUS 32
8. NOR 26
9. GBR 25
10. ROU 23
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