Andreas Thorkildsen

 
Oslo’s Bislett Stadium has always had an ongoing relationship with the Javelin competition. The fans in the Norwegian capital have for decades really appreciated the long throw and all the skills involved. Names like Danielsen, Pedersen, Hattestad and Železný are truly revered names at Bislett, because of their exploits in the arena.

In this year’s ExxonMobil Bislett Games the spotlight will again focus on the men’s Javelin as part of its IAAF Diamond League program and Meet Director Steinar Hoen has assembled a highly credentialed field of the world’s best competitors.

The news from Oslo is very positive concerning Norway’s former dual Olympic and World Champion, Andreas Thorkildsen. After two seasons of battling injury, Thorkildsen has finally declared himself fully fit and ready to regain his World title in Moscow later this year. Reports from his warm weather training camp and a steady performance in his first competition of the year at the IAAF Diamond League in Doha indicate that the Norwegian will be a huge threat in any competition this season. He will be especially determined to make an emphatic statement on his home soil.

Another athlete returning from injury is the 2011 World Champion Matthias de Zordo. The left-handed German had serious problems last year but is also very positive about his fitness for the coming season. He was the dominant thrower in the world in the latter part of 2011 and has a best of 88.36m from the Diamond League final in Brussels.

Former World Champion, Finland’s Tero Pitkämäki, has started 2013 in great style with a throw of 86.40m at his South African warm weather training base. He is a favourite of the Bislett crowd having won the meet on a number of occasions.

Last year’s winner of the ExxonMobil Bislett Games and the Diamond Race, Vítězslav Vesilý, had the biggest throw in the world in 2012 (88.34m) and after his definitive victory in Doha last Friday, he will be looking to outdo the performance of his coach Jan Železný in the Bislett Stadium. In 1992, Železný threw a distance of 94.40m.

Possibly the competitor attracting most interest will be a young athlete with the shortest personal best of all the competitors. Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott established his personal best of 84.58m last year but he did win two very important titles: the World Junior Championships and in what was a great shock the London Olympic Games. In a tense final in London, Walcott held his nerve to secure a remarkable victory and bring Trinidad and Tobago its second Gold Medal in Olympic history (Haseley Crawford’s 100m in 1976 being the other). Walcott is clearly the future of this event and it will be interesting watching him compete against the more experienced opposition. He opened his 2013 season with 84.36m to show that he will provide a serious contest in Bislett. He has yet to participate in a Diamond League event and will get great backing from the knowledgeable Bislett fans who are generous in their support of all the throwers.

source:diamondleague.com