Tero Pitkämäki and Andreas Thorkildsen dominated men’s javelin throwing since the early 2000s. The winner of the mutual race was never found, but now the men have returned to the throwing line once again.
Peers Tero Pitkämäki and Andreas Thorkildsen met in the same competition for the first time in 2000 at the World Championships in Youth in Chile. The first encounter went to a Norwegian who threw silver for his country with a junior record of 76.34. Pitkämäki still qualified for less than 70 meters at that time.
The men then faced 84 times until Thorkildsen ended his successful career in 2014. The last mutual encounter was the Kuortane Elite Race in the summer of 2013, when Pitkämäki won and Thorkildsen was sixth. In his career, the Norwegian won more value medals (eight, five of them gold), but Pitkämäki performed better in the Diamond League and the previous Gold League (26 wins). The winnings in the mutual competitions were evenly distributed between 42 and 42.
– It describes our fighting situation perhaps best. We didn’t avoid meeting each other, we were always going to the same races and we got together, but always in a good spirit, Pitkämäki thinks.
– Without Andrea, I could have won more, but we made the javelin throw more interesting than it was at that time.
Thorkildsen ended his career in 2014, Pitkämäki five years later. Neither throws the spear far away, but even more so.
Thus, precision throwing was chosen as the sport when the men met at Oslo’s Bislett Stadium in the autumn of 2021. The description was part of the documentary Tero Pitkämäki – Tour of Honor.
Watch the video in the main picture of the story, which took the decisive 85th encounter.