Javelin Champ Haruka Kitaguchi Preps for Paris with Victory at Monaco Diamond League Meet; Wins with Season-Best 65.21 on Final Throw

By Kazunori Hirachi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

13:18 JST, July 13, 2024

MONACO — Reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi issued a pre-Olympic warning to her rivals when she came from behind to win the gold medal in the women’s javelin on her final throw at the Monaco Diamond League meet on Friday.

Kitaguchi tossed the spear 65.21 meters — her best result of the season — on her sixth and final attempt to edge Australia’s Mackenzie Little, who finished second at 64.74.

“On my practice throws, I thought, ‘Pretty good,’ and that made me confident going into the competition,” said Kitaguchi, who picked up her second Diamond League victory of the season and eighth overall.

Kitaguchi started the competition with a season-best throw of 64.63, but was overtaken by Little, the bronze medalist at last year’s world championships. Down to her final attempt, Kitaguchi managed to put it all together.

“I thought that I really wanted to win and just gave it everything,” Kitaguchi said of her winning throw. “I made sure not to force it too much and just threw it as usual.”

It was a reassuring result heading into Paris after struggling for much of the season. Kitaguchi won the title at the Japan championships, but had accomplished little else. “The throw over 65 meters is big,” she said.

Kitaguchi’s final competition before the Paris Olympics will be the London Diamond League meet on July 20. “In London, I want to have everything feel right as I prepare for the Olympics,” she said.

In other action, Japan’s top middle-distance runner Nozomi Tanaka finished third in the women’s 5,000 meters in a season-best 14 minutes 40.86 seconds in her final race before the Olympics.

Tanaka said she will now head to Italy for high-altitude training.