Julius Yego

About Julius Yego

Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is the African record and Commonwealth record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 metres. He won the javelin title at the All-Africa Games in 2011 and at the African Championships in Athletics in 2012 and 2014; at the 2013 World Championships he placed fourth, losing a medal in the final round. In 2014, he became the first Kenyan to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in a field event. At the 2015 World Championships he won the gold medal with a throw of 92.72m, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World Championships gold medal in a field event.

Career Success:

• In 2006 he won the national junior title and broke the Kenyan junior record with a throw of 67 metres. 
  
• He won his first national title in the javelin at the age of nineteen in 2008 and defended it in both 2009 and 2010.
  
• He earned his first national call up in 2010 and threw a personal best of 74.51 m to take the bronze medal at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics, which was held in Nairobi.
  
• He improved his best to 75.44 m at the Kenyan Commonwealth trials.He travelled to New Delhi for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but performed less well and ended the competition in seventh place with a best throw of 69.60 m.
  
• At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow Yego placed fourth, improving his Kenyan record by more than three metres to 85.40 m. He was the first Kenyan ever to qualify for a field event final at the World Championships, and was in bronze medal position until Russia's Dmitriy Tarabin passed him on his last throw.Track & Field News ranked Yego fifth in the world that year, the first time he'd been ranked in the top 10.
  
• Yego won the javelin at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, beating the reigning Olympic champion, Keshorn Walcott, with a distance of 83.87 m.Yego was the first Kenyan athlete to win a Commonwealth title in a field event.He won a second gold later that summer at the African Championships, throwing a season best 84.72 m and defeating world leader Ihab Abdelrahman El-Sayed of Egypt.
  

Seasonal bests by year:

• 2009 - 74.00
  
• 2010 - 75.44
  
• 2011 - 78.34
  
• 2012 - 81.81
  
• 2013 - 85.40
  
• 2014 - 84.72
  
• 2015 - 92.72
  

Julius Yego Achievements

World Championships

• Gold medal –  2015 World Championships in Athletics Javelin throw
  

Commonwealth Games

• Gold medal –  2014 Commonwealth Games Javelin Throw
  

All-Africa Games

• Gold medal –  2011 All-Africa Games Javelin throw
  

African Championships

• Gold medal –  2014 African Championships in Athletics Javelin throw
  
• Gold medal –  2012 African Championships in Athletics Javelin throw
  
• Bronze medal –  2010 African Championships in Athletics Javelin throw