Keshorn Walcott saving his best for Olympic final

TT’s Keshorn Walcott, competes during the men’s javelin qualification at the Olympics, on August 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. - AP

After surviving a scare in the qualifying round of the men's javelin event at the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Stade de France on August 6, two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott says his best is yet to come as he looks forward to the final of the event on August 8.

The London 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the javelin event, Walcott sealed his place in the final in Paris when he placed 11th overall in a field of 32 athletes in the qualifying round. With the qualifying mark for the final set at 84 metres, Walcott endured a couple of nervous hours awaiting his fate after finishing sixth in the first qualifying group with a throw of 83.02m on his second of three attempts. Walcott's throw fell just 98 cm shy of the qualifying standard for the final.

Four throwers from the first round hurled the javelin beyond the 84m mark, with both Julian Weber (87.76m) and Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch (85.63m) sealing their places in the final with their first attempts.

Rio 2016 silver medallist Julius Yego (85.97m) and Finland's Toni Keranen (85.27m) dramatically booked their spots in the final with their third and final attempts, leaving Walcott and the fifth-placed Oliver Helander (83.81m) in limbo as they awaited the completion of the second qualifying group.

Walcott's 83.02m mark was then surpassed by five more automatic qualifiers in the second qualifying group, but he critically held on to make the 12-man field for the final.

"I made it by the edge of my teeth. I'm thankful. I think everything went as planned," Walcott said, in a video posted to the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee's (TTOC) social media platforms. "We were a bit scared, but in the end it turned out well so I'm grateful."

Having gone through the nerve-racking moments in qualifying, Walcott is ready to pull out all the stops in the final from 2.25 pm (TT time) on August 8.

"Based on the competition today (August 6) and the throws, we kind of expected that type of distance from me. Going forward, I think the final will be much better in terms of distance — over 85m hopefully," the four-time Olympian said.

"That has been the plan. Moving forward to the final, I'm looking forward to some longer throws."

The quality of the athletes in the second qualifying group was on full display, and the trio of reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra (89.34m), Grenada's two-time world champion Anderson Peters (88.63m) amd Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (86.59m) all advanced to the final after their first attempts.

Brazil's Luiz Mauricio Da Silva crossed the 80m mark in each of his three throws, with his final throw of 85.91 shattering an area record. Moldova's Andrian Mardare (84.13m) and Finland's Lassi Etelatalo (82.91m) were the other two men two advance from the second qualifying group.

"The plan was to come in today to throw between 83m and 84m and get into the final as easy as possible but I guess, it wasn’t that easy," Walcott told Newsday. "It still went as planned so it doesn't matter if I qualified 11th or 12th or whatever.

"Based on what we have already planned for the whole competition. I think once things go well, it's possible for a podium," he continued.

The qualifying event didn't go as smoothly for 19-year-old German Max Dehning, who came into the event with the best throw in the world this season — 90.20m. Dehning fell well short of his season's best mark, with his best throw being measured at 79.24m.

"I don't really have to do anything that we haven’t really planned for already...I think a lot of people were surprised today with a lot of guys throwing really far. Everyone didn’t expect that."

Walcott's coach Ismael Mastrapa also weighed in on what he described as the "hardest qualification ever."

"It was a very difficult qualification, nine of the 12 athletes who are going to the final threw the qualification standard," Mastrapa said, via a social media post from the Sport Company of TT.

"It seemed like an Olympic final instead of a qualification phase, but the final is like starting over."

Twelve years ago, a 19-year-old Walcott won javelin gold for TT with a mark of 84.58m at the London games. Just a month before in July 2012, the Toco teenager had lifted the World Under-20 Championships gold in Barcelona, Spain.

Now 31, Walcott has been through the ups and downs of the sport, claiming a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics along the way.

The last 12 months have tested Walcott's physical and mental strength, though, and he's trying to return to his best form after suffering a season-ending injury last August.

At the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Walcott was forced to withdraw from the qualifying event after suffering a ruptured Achilles in his warm-up. Days after suffering the injury, Walcott underwent successful surgery in Turku, Finland.

Walcott has been on the comeback journey ever since.

"In the last couple of months, there has been a lot of grace from the Lord, knowing that we have battled a lot of ups and downs for the last couple of months."

Walcott poetically returned to Finland on June 22 to capture the Kuortane Games title with a throw of 84.89m, before notching a new season's best of 85.22m at this country's national junior and senior championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on June 29.

Walcott is working towards finding his best at the most opportune time.

"Knowing that I haven’t competed for a while, normally, today (August 6) was a bit of a shake out so we’re expecting now, better coordination, flow and overall better technical throws," Walcott said.

"It’s two different competitions. The qualifying is down and dusted and then you have to come again for the final, so you don’t know what to expect.

"I have to focus on the final because it’s a whole new competition, everyone is starting from zero."

In what could be his final Olympic competition, Walcott will hope to unleash another massive javelin toss to bring glory to his country with a third Olympic medal.