Tough luck for Peacock

HE’S just posted the best javelin performance by an Australian at any Olympic Games or world championship — but Tasmanian Hamish Peacock finished 14th and failed to make the cut for the final at the world athletics championships in London.

TASMANIAN Hamish Peacock finished 14th and failed to make the cut for the javelin final at the world athletics championships in London tomorrow despite posting the best performance by an Australian at any Olympic Games or world championship.

The two-times Australian champion and Rio Olympian threw 82.46m in what was regarded as the best qualifying round in the history of world championships.

German ace Johannes Vetter threw down the gauntlet in the first round, throwing 91.20m to record the best distance ever recorded in a qualifying round at any world championship event.

Peacock’s throw eclipsed that of Australian record holder Jarrod Bannister, who finished seventh in the final of the 2011 worlds with 82.25m. That makes Peacock’s result the best recorded by an Australian at an Olympics and world championships event.

The Hobart athlete won his second Australian title in April, throwing 84.36m, just shy of his 84.39m personal best. That was Peacock’s third world championship qualifying throw this year, and came two weeks after he claimed the Tasmanian championship with a distance of 84.04m.

His first qualifying throw was 83.02m at the start of March, with the national title also an automatic qualifier for the worlds.