Javelin thrower Rumesh misses World Championships qualification by a whisker
Javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga cleared a distance of 85.41m, a performance recorded as the best so far in Men’s Javelin Throw for this year, at the Perth Classic Athletics, held at the Western Australia Athletics Stadium on Saturday. Tharanga’s achievement is reported as a new meet record at the Perth Classic, with the existing record of 85.40m set by Australia’s own Andrew Currey in 1998.
The confirmation of Tharanga’s achievement as a meet record is yet to officially endorsed by the meet officials, as the 21-year-old Sri Lankan narrowly missed the opportunity to qualify for the World Athletics Championship to be held in Japan, by a mere 9 centimetres.
The qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championship has been set as 85.50m, the same distance as for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which Tharanga fell short by just 5 centimetres in June 2024. It was Tharanga’s first appearance, as he was not considered a contender for an Olympic berth by the Sri Lankan athletic officials. Yet, he was given the passage to represent the country at the 2nd Asian Throwing Championship held in June 2024 in Mokpo, South Korea, and clear a distance of 85.45m at the only international meet that was available to earn an Olympic entry.
Though Tharanga missed out on earning direct qualification for the World Athletics Championship by 9cm, he will have another opportunity to train and better his performance at the upcoming competition in Sydney, Australia. Tharanga accounted for the national record after clearing 85.45m at the regional meet held in South Korea.