Jan Zelezny 34, Johannes Vetter 17, Aki Parviainen and Andreas Thorkildsen 8 and Tero Pitkämäki 6.
That’s how many times the javelin sizes in question have been able to throw a current model pipe over 90 meters in a competitive situation.
Of the five, only the German Vetter, 30, can increase his number, but this is the big question of the sports world in the starting season: will he be able to return to the level of the 2020 and 2021 seasons?
The good-natured Vetter, who has spent three consecutive days off, sits down for Urheilu’s video interview at his home in Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg. There are only six days until the season opener, and the coach Boris Obergföll (previously Henrythe top thrower of the past years) has ordered his athletes to dig up the performance condition through a familiar route, through rest.
More than a year break
Vetter will start his season after almost 13 months of competition on Sunday, June 4 in Hengelo, Holland, by Fanny Blankers-Koen in commemorative competitions.
– I am tense, happy and nervous.
Finnish manager after Hengelo Tero Heiska has of course taken his protege to Finland – Turku and Kuortane.
In the latter, in the summer of 2021, Vetter threw 93.59, the longest Nakatu arc on the Finnish chamber with a modern javelin model.
When Vetter in September 2020 already outshone Zelezny’s ME by throwing 97.76 in Chorzow, Poland, the world record and even breaking 100 meters was considered a matter of time. Certain realities of javelin throwing were forgotten in the intoxication.
– My goal is to return to the level at which I threw in 2020 and 2021, but it won’t happen right away. If I throw about 85 meters in Hengelo, I’m satisfied with the situation, Vetter says from his attic room, on the shelf of which he has placed his awards from, among other things, Diamond League competitions.
The Tokyo fiasco
When Vetter scored 92.14 in Lucerne on June 29, 2021, the Tokyo Olympics seemed to be mostly silver for the others. It is now known that it is his most recent 90-meter throw, and the Tokyo Olympics started the nightmarish phase of a great career.
The acceleration track at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium was too soft and crumbly for the giant, and Vetter was unable to modify his technique according to the requirements of the situation. Ninth place was a disaster.
Although the end of the season brought several bouts around 90 meters, a new nasty guy had jumped on board: worsening and chronic pain in the throwing arm’s shoulder, which was not helped by medication.
Last season’s result of 85.64 in the hometown was ultimately the only statistical record of the season, and both the World Cup in Eugene and the European Championship in Munich were left behind.
– The situation was difficult throughout the training season. Although we did everything we could to make it to Munich, in the end there was no realistic chance.
In Munich, Vetter would have already had another chance to achieve the prestigious gold medal in his home country. There was no EC medal in Berlin 2018 either.
Cooler from German colleagues Thomas Röhler is both Olympic champion 2016 and European champion 2018, Julian Weber European champion 2022, but Vetter “only” world champion 2017.
Shy results
One would think that the man would be taken seriously, that both the Olympic gold in Tokyo and the European Championship in Munich were shared with 87-start results, which would be shy results for the top-fit Vetter.
– I didn’t think so. I just focused on getting myself back into training and competition shape. By Neeraj Chopra and Anderson Peters I am so happy about the success that the expansion of international competition can only be good for javelin throwing.
Grenada’s Peters’ 2019 World Championship gold in Doha was greatly affected by, among other things, the fact that Vetter’s supporting leg, who defended his position as number one in London as the preliminaries, had his ankle operated soon after the Games.
When Vetter threw in the middle of his season last year, it was a great relief that the painful shoulder did not need surgery, as the ankle did in the past.
Of the javelin throwers who have returned to the absolute top level after shoulder operations, you can’t get a lot of people together.
– It was a chronic (mucous sac) infection. After the suspension decision, I gave the shoulder two months of total rest. I vacationed in Italy and Austria and did a six-week work period in the Bundeswehr.
Vetter is paid by the German Defense Forces, like many of the country’s best individual athletes.
When the new training season started, the pain has remained well under control with the help of caring training and a skilled physiotherapist.
– When I have thrown technically correctly, there has been no pain. When I haven’t got the technique right, there has been pain in the shoulder.
Quota full?
Vetter admits that he has wondered if the old saying is true. According to it, only a certain amount of super performance is packed into each javelin thrower or all-rounder of power sports in general.
After them, the body would no longer accept the shock caused by the performance. When the average of the man’s top ten competition results is 93.98, there has been a shock.
– I believe that I can still throw really far when I find the feel. After that, it’s as easy as riding a bicycle.
Vetter doesn’t want to talk about his World Cup goals in Budapest at this stage. Even if the 2023 season does not bring the desired results, the career is by no means ending even after the fall of 2024 after the Olympic Games in Paris.
– I don’t think it’s impossible that I would continue my career until 2032 and the Brisbane Olympics.