Kenya's 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego is part of a loaded field set to throw it down at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Sunday, 13 September.Download our Mozzart Sport app for more newsOrganisers have assembled a loaded field, containing five men with lifetime bests beyond 90 metres, set to compete in the four-round format final with the winner pocketing Ksh19.3 million, Ksh9.7 million for second place and Ksh5 million for third.Krop, Kemboi falter as Ingebrigtsen kicks to Ultimate Championship 5000m titleYego faces a herculean task in a field led by World leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, who heads to the showdown as the Diamond League (DL) and Commonwealth champion after a breakthrough 92.62m season.The Kenyan carries an 82.22m season best achieved in June at the Doha DL. This season, Yego solidified his status as Africa's most accomplished javelin thrower by winning a historic sixth gold medal at the African Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana.##NAJAVA_MECA_9952681##He, however, failed to replicate the same form as he made his fifth and final career appearance at the Commonwealth Games, finishing 13th overall with a best throw of 74.50m, missing out on the final stage.Meanwhile, European champion Julian Weber is the only other entrant to have surpassed 90m in 2026"That's not me"- Oketch promises better after early Ultimate Championship exitWorld champion Keshorn Walcott and Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem add to an eight-man field packed with global title winners.Pathirage has transformed himself from emerging contender to the dominant force in men's javelin during a remarkable 2026 season. The Sri Lankan made the biggest statement in Rome in June, launching his javelin out to a national record of 92.62m. It moved him to eighth on the world all-time list and more than two metres clear of anyone else in the world at that stage of the season.##NAJAVA_MECA_9952591##And Pathirage has repeatedly backed it up. He won DL meetings in Rome, Doha, Lausanne and Zurich, where he produced another huge throw of 92.07m, before securing his first Diamond Trophy with 89.04m in Brussels.He has also delivered when championship medals have been on the line, throwing 89.75m to win the Commonwealth title in Glasgow ahead of Neeraj Chopra.Kenyan youngster athlete signs professional deal with Swiss sports brandJulian Weber has been his closest rival on the 2026 world list. The German produced 90.40m to win his first European title in Birmingham last month and followed that with 89.54m in Berlin, underlining the consistency of his late-season form.Meanwhile, Walcott returns as the reigning world champion after his victory in Tokyo last year, where Anderson Peters took silver and Curtis Thompson bronze. Peters, the world champion in 2019 and 2022, has improved to 86.93m this season, while Thompson has reached 87.59m.##NAJAVA_MECA_9952575##Dawid Wegner is another athlete peaking at the right moment. The Pole produced a lifetime best of 87.47m to finish second to Pathirage at the DL Final, adding more than four metres to the mark with which he had placed fourth at the European Championships.
125
previous post