Top 5 men's javelin throw world records of all time

The javelin throw is one of the most popular and iconic field events in athletics and requires athletes to make full use of body to propel the javelin the furthest. The sport evolved from the everyday use of the spear in hunting and warfare and was widely practiced in Ancient Greece and incorporated into the Olympic Games in 708BC as part of the pentathlon. It has been part of the modern Olympic Games program since 1908 for men and 1932 for women.

The event is also host to India's biggest medal chance at the IAAF World Championships as reigning world junior champion Neeraj Chopra will look to clinch a place on the podium in the men's javelin section. He will be joined by Davinder Singh Kang, who will be looking to improve upon his personal best and qualify for the finals.

In this article, we will take a look at five of the all-time best throws in the event. Here is the list!

#1 Jan Železný

This Czech javelin thrower is considered to be the greatest javelin thrower of all-time. He holds the record for the best four javelin throws of all time and his best performance was 98.48m, set in 1996.

He won the gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games and silver in the 1988 Olympics as well as three World Championship titles; in 1993, 1995 and 2001. He retired in the year 2006 and has been an inspiration for athletes that have followed him.

#2 Johannes Vetter

After Jan Zelezny, Johannes Vetter is the name. This German javelin thrower holds a record of throwing 94.44 meters set on 11th July, 2017. Vetter finished seventh at the 2015 IAAF World Championships, and fourth at the 2016 Summer Olympics, narrowly missing out the podium.

Less than a month later, Vetter rebounded from his out-of-medal Olympic feat to reach the top of the world-class field with 89.57m at the 2016 ISTAF Berlin. He remains as one of the favourites for the World Championships crown in London this year.

#3 Thomas Rohler

Third in the list is again a man from Germany. Thomas Rohler has a personal best of 93.90m for the event, the third in world all-time list. He was the German national champion in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

He represented Germany at the 2012 European Athletics Championships and the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. He has won numerous medals at the European Cup Winter Throwing and the European Team Championships. However, his moment of glory came at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where he clinched gold with a throw of 90.30m.

#4 Aki Parviainen

In comes a man from Finland, named Aki Parviainen. On 26th June, 1999, he gave his best performance till date which took him to the fourth position in this list. He won a gold medal at 1999 World Championship in Athletics and also won silver in 2001 World Championship.

His best Olympic placing is 5th in 2000. In the spring of 2006, Parviainen announced his retirement due to injuries.

#5 Julius Yego

Yego hails from Kenya. In the 2015 World Championship, which took place in Beijing, he won the gold medal by throwing the javelin 92.72 meters. His nickname is 'Mr. YouTube Man' because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes.

Yego is the African record and Commonwealth record holder. Jan Zelezny was a huge inspiration for him.