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Tero won the Golden League Berlin event with one throw

Tero Pitkämäki won the opening event of the Golden League in Berlin by the smallest difference recorded in the javelin: one centimetre. Right after his first throw, Pitkämäki held his shoulder and did not appear again at the end of the runway.

“I felt a stab here, under the shoulder blade at the right. Then my whole stomach cramped," he explained after the event. “I knew there was no point in trying to throw again.” Severe cramping in the shoulder area was new for Pitkämäki. Nevertheless, he appeared calm after the event. “It is already better. Yes, I think you will see me in Oslo,” he said with reference to the next Golden League event in two weeks’ time.

Pitkämäki admitted he had taken a risk because the first cramp symptoms appeared when he was warming up: “I felt the stab when I was warming up. I knew that the first throw was going to hurt.”

The Berlin event remained on a fairly mediocre level as Pitkämäki’s winning throw was only 85.20. It was his worst winning result ever in a Golden League competition. The win granted Pitkämäki the opportunity to attempt the Golden League main prize, one million dollars, which requires winning all six events. Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway fought Pitkämäki with his third throw, but was one centimetre short. “Ten millimetres,” Thorkildsen said. The third place was taken by Tero Järvenpää, whose last throw reached a bit over 84 metres.

The three leading scores at the Berlin javelin event:

1) Tero Pitkämäki Finland 85.20
2) Andreas Thorkildsen Norway 85.19
3) Tero Järvenpää Finland 84.07