Tero Pitkamaki

Javelin throwers Tero Pitkämäki and Maria Abakumova competed in two different meetings on German soil on Sunday (25), but the end result for both athletes was the same as they produced the best throws in the world since 2011.

World silver medallist Pitkämäki was throwing at the Werfertage meeting in Bad Kostritz. In the first round, Germany’s David Golling smashed his PB by more than three metres to take an early lead with 80.67m.

After a slow start, Pitkämäki eventually found his rhythm in the fourth round, sending his Javelin out to 89.03m to break Raymond Hecht’s meeting record of 87.87m from 2002.

Not only was it the Finn’s best mark since 2007 – the year in which he won the World title – but it was also the best mark in the world since August 2011.

“I’m very happy with the competition and the distance, even though the wind was not quite perfect,” said the 30-year-old.

Behind Pitkämäki and Golling, European under-23 silver medallist and World Championships representative Bernhard Seifert of Germany finished third with 79.01m.

The serie of Pitkämäki was the following: 80.06, x, 80.38, 89.03, 81.17, 79.80

Abakumova defeats Obergföll again

Since her disappointment of missing out on winning gold in front of her home crowd at the World Championships in Moscow, Russia’s Maria Abakumova has now twice defeated World champion Christina Obergföll – including today’s triumph in Elstal.

The pair were competing at the DKB Cup meeting just three days after their last clash at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, where Abakumova also came out on top. This time, the World bronze medallist produced a winning mark of 69.75m, the best performance in the world since her own winning throw at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu.

Obergföll finished almost four metres adrift with a best throw of 65.82m. In a competition which featured four of the top-five finishers from the World Championships, Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell finished third with 62.17m, just two centimetres ahead of Germany’s Linda Stahl.

source: Jon Mulkeen&IAAF.org