Germany goes away empty-handed at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Javelin thrower Julian Weber also didn’t win a medal on the last day of the competition and only finished fourth. The Indian Neeraj Chopra became world champion, ahead of Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan and the Czech Jakub Vadlejch.
In the end, Julian Weber put his hands in front of his face and shook his head. 85.79 m, that was only enough for the thankless fourth place in the final in Budapest – as in the games in Tokyo and the World Championships in Eugene. The European champion was one of the great DLV hopes for precious metal in Budapest, but missed the last chance for a medal for the German team in the title fights in the Hungarian capital.
DLV team for the first time without a World Cup medal
The man from Mainz was 88 centimeters behind the Czech Jakub Vadlejch (86.67) and bronze. Gold was a long way off for Weber that day with 88.17m by Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, as was silver by Arshad Nadeem with 87.82m.
This was the “worst case” for the DLV team: For the first time in history, the German team did not win a single medal at a World Championships in Athletics. “We didn’t come here to go home empty-handed,” said DLV President Jürgen Kessing a few hours before Weber’s competition. But that’s exactly how it happened.
Weber, who traveled to Budapest as number two in the world with his 88.72 m, had already had a shaky qualification – in the final he again lacked the necessary power. It is possible that the enormous pressure of expectations also inhibited the 28-year-old sports soldier.