Kevin Mayer is obviously never as good as when he is up against the wall!
As in the high jump competition yesterday where he crossed a bar at 2.08 m, the Frenchman returned to his highest level at the best of times.
4th in the provisional decathlon classification before the javelin throw, the Frenchman made an exceptional throw on his second try, propelling his machine to 73.09 m, a new personal best.
🇫🇷 Kevin Mayer boosted after exploding his record in the javelin throw.
The Frenchman's second try was more than conclusive, reaching 73.09 m with the tip of his javelin 🤩 # JeuxOlympiques # Tokyo2020
Follow the Olympics live ➡ https://t.co/mYKmiZQKF7 pic.twitter.com/IzQ7X2ubBk
- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 5, 2021
However, his competition had started moderately, with a first attempt measured at 64.71 m.
The Frenchman recovered well and only the Estonian Karel Tilga did better than him in this decathlon, with 73.36 m.
Her direct podium rivals Ashley Moloney and Pierce Lepage could not do better than 57.12m and 57.24m.
Old record at 71.90 m
The Frenchman let his joy explode and then shared his emotion with his staff present in the stands, to finally stop his competition.
He had not launched beyond 70 meters since his world record achieved at Talence in 2018, where his best throw was measured at 71.90 m.
After a delicate start to the decathlon, marked in particular by a poor performance in the shot put and a 400 m far from his record, Kevin Mayer is back in second position in the general decathlon classification and should, barring a major failure over 1,500 m, leave Tokyo with the silver medal, as in 2016 in Rio.
Impressive since the start of the competition, Damian Warner will in all likelihood be crowned Olympic champion!
