‘YouTube Man’ Yego aims for the skies, javelin in hand

In Budapest

Former world javelin champion Julius Yego’s plan at this year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest is simple: To go out there and make the best possible throw in his first attempt inside the field at the National Athletics Centre.

Yego, who won gold medal at 2015 World Championships in Beijing with a throw of 92.72 metres, reckons he has regained top form that saw him conquer the world in China as he prepares to compete in Group ‘A’ of the qualification round on Friday from 11.10am.

“I feel ready for the moment. My coach had a good plan for me in the season, and I feel confident and fitter. I look forward to Friday’s competition to give me a chance to go to the final," said Yego.

"My strategy is to have one good throw in my first attempt so as to qualify for Sunday’s final. Once I reach the final, I will take it forward from there,” the 34-year-old, who holds the African and Commonwealth Games javelin record of 92.72m, said.

The tactic has worked for him before.  At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Yego, who is popularly known as ‘YouTube Man’ because he refined his javelin technique by watching YouTube videos, claimed silver medal with a single throw of 88.2m.

“My objective here is to finish inside the medal bracket. I have done it before in 2015, and I can do it now,” he said.

Yego will compete in Group ‘A’ of the qualification round alongside Germany’s Julian Weber, who has a season best throw of 88.72m that puts him second in world rankings this year. The  2020 Olympics champion and last season’s Diamond League winner Neeraj Chopra from India with a season best throw of 88.67m, 2019 and 2022 world champion Anderson Peters from Granada, who has a season best of 85.88m are also part of the group.

Group ‘B’ of the qualification round will feature Olympics silver medallist Jacub Valdlejch from the Czech Republic, India’s Kishore Jena, 2015 world championships silver medallist Ahab Abdelrahman of Egypt, Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, among others.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games javelin champion also threw his weight behind Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala who finished seventh in men’s 100m final, saying social media attacks on the Commonwealth Games 100m champion were unwarranted.

“Every athlete competing at this level is good, and sometimes it boils down to luck. For the first time we have a Kenyan finalist in men’s 100m race who is Omanyala, and we were expecting a medal from him which didn’t come."

"He may have not performed as expected, but attacks on him through social media are unfortunate. People must differentiate between winning a championship and a race in the Diamond League. Even (American sprinter) Fred Kerley who came to the final as reigning champion did not reach the final. Even the Olympic champion (Italy’s Marcel Jacobs) did not reach the final, but Omanyala did. Things did not go according to plan, but there is always a next time,” Yego told Nation Sport at Ibis Hotel in Budapest, where Team Kenya is putting up.

Team Kenya timetable

11.10am: Julius Yego (Men’s javelin qualification round)

9.45pm: Mary Moraa (women’s 800m semis)