By Ian Chadband
LONDON (Reuters) – Germany’s Johannes Vetter and Thomas Rohler will take their burgeoning javelin rivalry into a potentially riveting final at the World Athletics Championships after achieving the automatic qualifying mark on Thursday.
Yet the pair, who have this season both produced throws that have only ever been bettered by the great Czech Jan Zelezny, surpassed the 83 meters qualifying standard in contrasting style.
Vetter, who moved to second on the all-time list last month with a 94.44 meters effort in Lucerne, produced another fine throw of 91.20 meters at the first attempt to power into Saturday’s final as the top qualifier.
Olympic champion Rohler, in the second group, had to work harder, failing to make it with his first throw (80.88m) before his second effort cleared the 83m mark by 87 centimeters to make him the eighth best qualifier.
With Andreas Hoffman also making the final as fifth best qualifier (85.62m), Vetter, whose leading throw was almost five meters longer than the next best effort of Czech Petr Frydrych (86.22m), declared: “I am dreaming of three medals for Germany.”
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
