- No medal for Weber - Nadeem wins
Javelin thrower Julian Weber failed to win a medal at the Paris Olympics. The 29-year-old from Mainz threw 87.40 meters and had to settle for sixth place. Gold went to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, whose javelin landed at an Olympic record of 92.97 meters. India's Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo Olympics champion and world champion, took second place with a throw of 89.45 meters. Grenada's Anderson Peters, the former world champion, won bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters. Max Dehning from Leverkusen failed to qualify.
So far, the German Athletics Association has won two silver medals in Saint-Denis - through decathlete Leo Neugebauer and long jumper Malaika Mihambo.
Weber, who had won silver at the European Championships in Rome two months earlier, easily qualified for the final in Saint-Denis with a throw of 87.76 meters. After finishing fourth at the previous two Olympics and world championships, Weber entered the final as a medal contender.
Weber threw the javelin to a promising 87 meters in his first attempt, but stepped over the line. His competitors did better.
Nadeem shocked the competition early with an Olympic record in the second round, Weber countered with 87.33 meters and moved into third place, but quickly lost that position in the high-quality competition.
Chopra and Kenya's Julius Yego, who was second in Rio 2016 behind Thomas Röhler, also threw close to 90 meters, as did European champion Jakub Vadlejch. But no one could come close to Nadeem's big throw - not even Weber, who tried everything.
Despite his silver medal at the European Championships in Rome, Julian Weber's performance in Paris fell short, as he placed sixth in the Olympic javelin throw event. Regrettably, Paris's Olympics didn't grant Weber, the German javelin thrower from Mainz, a medal placement.
