BARBER IS AUSTRALIA’S NEW JAVELIN WORLD CHAMP
THE moment the javelin left Kelsey-Lee Barber’s hand in the concluding round of the world championships final in Doha she knew it was a very big throw.
Watching from the grandstand, her coach and husband Mike Barber knew it too. How right they were. In the most highly pressured moment of her sporting career, Barber produced the second-biggest throw of her life, a huge 66.56m effort that vaulted her from fourth place to first to become Australia’s first javelin world champion.
“I didn’t know how far it was, as I was still waiting to watch it fly over that line, but it certainly felt like a really clean throw,” the 28-year-old said.
“With easy, clean throwing you normally know they are quite good throws. I thought it had snuck over 65, so I was just waiting to see the numbers come up.
“Then to see 66 and jump into first place, my head was spinning a bit.
“But I was like, ‘Wait, I can’t celebrate too early because I have still got three girls to go’.”
As it turned out, none of them were able to respond in the same manner. The minor medals went to Chinese duo Liu Shiying (65.75m) and Lyu Huihui (65.49m), with German Christin Hussong relegated to fourth place.
Barber came into the championships ranked No. 2 in the world this year, courtesy of a brilliant season highlighted by a personal best of 67.70m in Lucerne in July.
But she looked out of sorts in the qualifying round in Doha on Monday, only scraping through to the 12-woman final in 10th place.
A solid opening throw of 62.95m in Tuesday night’s final settled the nerves, although with one round to go, she had only improved to 63.65m and a podium finish looked unlikely.
But she was armed with crucial advice from her coach.
“Mike told me to take my run-up back a bit going into that fifth round and that really allowed me to settle into my run and get my feet down,” she said.
“I think going into that last round having felt that quick feet, I was able to keep my composure, knowing that I still had something bigger to show.”
Barber, 28, is the first Australian to win a javelin gold medal at world or Olympic level.