NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 5 – The 2016 Rio Olympics javelin silver medalist Julius Yego is bullish over his chances at clinching the world and Commonwealth titles in a space of one month.
The 2015 World Champion was included on Monday as a wildcard for this month’s World Championship in Oregon, having already made the team to the Club Games in Birmingham.
“All things are possible…we all know that in everything you want to achieve you have to believe. I believe it is possible especially with the good training we are undergoing in the residential camp. You need a positive attitude whenever approaching a competition,” Yego said.
Yego is in a rich vein of form this year, finishing second at the Kip Keino Classic in May before he clinched gold at the Senior Africa Athletics Championships in Reduit, Mauritius, a month later.
At the national trials for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games, he threw 80m to go home with top honour.
The 2019 All Africa Games champion has in the past year encountered injury woes, during which time the worldwide javelin landscape has changed with the emergence of Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India and world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
Regardless, Yego is unmoved by the competition ahead and opines that there is no outright favourite in Oregon.
“I have been here before so there is absolutely no pressure. I was the world champion in 2015 and so it is something I am used to. The major aim is to make it to the final and afterwards, anything can happen because javelin is quite unpredictable. The two (Chopra and Peters) may have performed well in the Diamond League but the World Championship is a different cup of tea,” he said.
To get up to par with the world leaders, Yego has conceded that there are a few areas he still needs to perfect to improve on his throw.
“Training is progressing well. The focus is on improving my throw technique and increasing my speed on the runway. The aim is to throw at least 85m and I believe that is achievable going by the way things are working out in training,” he said.
In Birmingham, the 2014 Commonwealth champion will be flying the national flag alongside Alexander Kiprotich and Yego believes the sport has made giant strides in Kenya.
“At the moment, we are doing well. Even at the national level, you can throw 80m and it wouldn’t be enough to earn you first place. Even for the Commonwealth Games, you see there were four people who qualified although there were only two slots. I have seen ladies also coming up strongly in the sport and so there is hope. I hope to see more athletes throwing 75m and above from next year,” he said.
