Johannes Vetter came close to breaking the javelin world record on Sunday, throwing 97.76m at the Skolimowska Memorial meeting in Chorzow, Poland.

The German national record holder's effort is the second farthest throw of all time, just 72 centimeters behind Jan Zelezny's 98.48m world record set 24 years ago.

"I just don't know what to say, it was really close to a perfect moment," Vetter told World Athletics.

"You can feel it in your body when you have a good throw, mostly you feel the whole energy behind it, from the right toe to the chest to the hands. In the javelin you need your whole body. But it's really hard to explain - you feel it for less than one second. But then you realize that it was a huge throw," he explained.

The 2017 world champion's previous best was 94.44m set three years ago, and he was confident that he still had room to improve.

"I think lots of people didn't think it was possible to throw a javelin more than 95 meters in a closed stadium. I did it and I think there is a lot space for improvement. Very small differences, tiny differences, can make a difference of many meters."

In the men's shot put, Ryan Crouser of the U.S. won with a throw of 22.70m, followed by Poland's Michal Haratyk and Leonardo Fabbri from Italy.

World champion Daniel Stahl took his 13th consecutive victory in the men's discus, with the Swede throwing 67.28m.

The men's hammer throw was a battle between two Polish competitors, with Pawel Fajdek beating Wojciech Nowicki with his best of 79.81m. Alexandra Tavernier of France won the women's event after she threw 74.12m.

European champion Laura Muir was unstoppable in the women's 1,500m, continuing her momentum following a big win in Oslo two weeks ago. The Briton clocked 3:58.24, followed by Sofia Ennaoui of Poland and Romania's Claudia Bobocea.

The Netherlands' Dafne Schippers was fastest in the women's 100m, while there was joy for Poland as Justyna Swiety-Ersetic won the 400m and Maria Andrejczyk was victorious in the women's javelin, throwing 65.70m to finish ahead of Lina Muze of Latvia and Croatia's Sara Kolak.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

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