Julius Yego makes history at African Championships but falls short of Olympics standard

Julius Yego after winning gold at African Championships. Photo: Athletics Kenya

Julius Yego makes history at African Championships but falls short of Olympics standard

Joel Omotto 10:29 - 27.06.2024

Former world javelin champion Julius Yego achieved a historic feat at the African Championships following another gold medal but Olympics qualification is still not achieved.

Julius Yego won his fifth African title following a dominant throw at the African Championships in Doula, Cameroon but did not get the Olympic qualifying standard.

Yego had a throw of 80.22m to beat Nigerian Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi (79.22m) and Moustafa Mahmoud of Egypt (77.25m), who finished second and third, to claim silver and bronze medal respectively.

It was a historic moment for Yego as it was his fifth gold at the continental event, taking him into history books as the first man to achieve the feat.

Yego also won gold at the 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions of the African Championships.

The 2015 world javelin champion, however, fell short of sealing automatic qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics as he missed the cut.

His 80.24m was below the qualifying standard of 85:50 and with the June 30 deadline approaching, he has no time to seek it elsewhere. Yego will now hope to qualify for the Olympics via the World Athletics rankings.

The 2016 Olympics silver medallits will, however, be encouraged by his performance in Doula as it was an improvement of his throw of 76.42m during the Athletics Kenya Olympics trials.

The Commonwealth Games champion made his Olympic Games debut at the 2012 London Olympics before impressing at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a silver medal.

However, injuries rocked his career and he failed to make an impact at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and as he looks to head to Paris, the 35-year-old hopes to be majestic in his final appearance at the Games.

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