Kenya’s javelin legend Julius Yego has set his sights on a World Championships medal after ending a long nine-year wait for a Diamond League victory in Silesia, Poland.
The 2015 world champion produced a season’s best throw of 83.60m to win the competition, beating a strong field that included former Olympic medalists Keshorn Walcott and Anderson Peters. The victory was not just a personal milestone but also a timely boost as Yego prepares for next month’s World Championships in Tokyo.
For an athlete who once dominated global javelin, including winning gold at the 2015 World Championships and silver at the 2016 Olympics, the win in Poland marked a significant return to form. Yego admitted that while the distance was not as long as he would have liked, the importance lay in rediscovering the winning feeling and restoring self-belief.
The “YouTube Man,” as he is fondly known, revealed that the triumph has given him renewed confidence and mental strength heading into the major championship. He emphasized that the victory has provided the perfect platform to push harder in training and fine-tune his technique with the aim of finishing on the podium in Tokyo.
Yego will be making his seventh appearance at the World Championships, a remarkable feat that underlines his longevity at the top level. At 36 years of age, he acknowledges that he is in the twilight of his career, but he is determined to crown his resurgence with another medal on the global stage.
However, to stand a real chance of securing silverware, Yego knows he must raise his performance to the 90m mark. That distance has consistently been the winning standard at recent World Championships and was the mark that brought him glory a decade ago. He has therefore set his training focus on building power, refining technique, and sharpening consistency in order to challenge the best in the world once again.
A medal of any color in Tokyo would represent a fitting reward for Yego’s persistence and resilience, especially after enduring injuries and struggles that nearly forced him into early retirement. His comeback has already inspired many, but adding another World Championships medal would cement his legacy as one of Africa’s greatest ever field athletes.
