Keshorn Walcott 7th in Olympic javelin final

Trinidad and Tobago’s two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott was unable to replicate another podium performance at the Paris Games as he finished in a still credible seventh at the Stade de France.

Walcott threw a season’s best distance of 86.16 metres on his first attempt, which eventually, was his best distance achieved over four of his six designated throws.

The Toco-bred athlete was the third thrower in the final and was in gold medal position after the first round of throws from the 12 finalists.

However, it all changed in the second round as Pakistani Arshad Nadeem smashed the Olympic record, and rallied on to win gold, with his mammoth 92.97m attempt.

Tokyo 2020 champion Neeraj Chopra (India) threw 89.45m and held on for silver with this distance while Grenadian Anderson Peters launched a hefty 87.87m in the second round to surpass Walcott. He eventually took bronze with 88.54m in the fourth round.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch was fourth with 88.50m on his third attempt while Kenyan Julius Yego took fifth with 87.72m in round two. German Julian Weber finished sixth with 87.40m from his fifth throw.

Walcott fouled his second throw, got 82.89m on his third, threw 78.96m in round four and 76.86m in round five. He opted out of the final attempt.

Walcott won gold at the 2012 London Games and then bronze in Rio De Janeiro four years later. He is TT’s last Olympic medallist since the Olympic team went medal-less in Tokyo, and are yet to etch the TT flag atop a podium in Paris.

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