Sri Lankan javelin star Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage’s homecoming after winning the World Athletics Ultimate Championship was marked by an unfortunate setback, with four of his specialised competition javelins damaged during his return flight from Hungary.
Pathirage shared pictures of his damaged javelins on his Instagram story with the caption “bad luck.” In another story, he criticised the airline, writing “Thank You Turkish Airlines” alongside a broken heart emoji.
According to reports, a complaint has reportedly been lodged with the airline over the incident. “All three javelins I used for over 90 throws have been damaged. It might have been a mistake by the airline, but that’s how it is. It’s not a big issue. I’ll move on,” Pathirage said.
Pathirage capped a stunning breakthrough season by winning the men’s javelin title at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship with a 91.09m effort in Budapest on Sunday. It was the third time this season he crossed the 90 metre mark, after setting a Sri Lankan national record of 92.62m in Rome in June and throwing 92.07m to win the Zurich Diamond League last month.
He has been the dominant force in the discipline this year, winning 11 of his 12 competitions before Budapest. Alongside his Ultimate Championship title, he won the Commonwealth Games gold and dominated the Diamond League circuit with victories in Rome, Doha, Lausanne and Zurich, becoming the first Sri Lankan to win the Diamond League Final.
Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem finished fifth in the same final, recording his season-best throw of 81.49m on his third attempt. Nadeem opened with 74.42m before improving to 79.66m on his second throw. Under the competition’s format, only the top four athletes advanced to a decisive fourth round, ending his campaign after three attempts.
Grenada’s Anderson Peters took silver with 86.18m, while Germany’s Julian Weber claimed bronze with 85.89m.
