How Javelin Throw works

The javelin must be held at the grip and thrown over the shoulder or the upper part of the throwing arm. Slinging or hurling it is illegal, and at no point may the athlete turn their back on the landing area — a rule introduced specifically to stop anyone reintroducing the spinning technique.

• Held at the corded grip, thrown over the shoulder
• The athlete may not turn their back to the throwing arc
• No part of the body may touch or cross the foul line
• The athlete must leave the runway from behind the arc after the throw

The javelin must land tip-first — or at least strike the ground with the metal head before any other part — for the throw to count. Distance is measured from the inside edge of the throwing arc to the point where the head first touched down, and rounded down to the nearest centimetre.

• The metal head must strike the ground first
• The javelin does not need to stick in the ground
• Measured from the arc to the first point of contact
• The throw must land within the marked sector

Athletes have a runway at least 30 m long and 4 m wide, ending in a curved throwing arc. The run-up builds horizontal speed, which the crossover steps and the block convert into rotational velocity through the trunk and arm — the transfer is why javelin is as much a sprinting and bracing event as a throwing one.

Each athlete gets three throws. The top eight then receive three more, and the best single throw of the six decides the result — consistency counts for nothing, so one exceptional attempt beats five good ones. Ties are broken by comparing second-best throws.

• Three throws for all, three more for the top eight
• Only the single best throw counts
• Ties broken on the next-best attempt
• Athletes usually have about a minute per attempt

Javelins had begun flying so far that they threatened to land outside stadium infields, and flat landings made measurement disputes constant. World Athletics moved the centre of gravity four centimetres forward, which makes the javelin pitch downwards earlier and land nose-first. Distances dropped roughly ten percent overnight and all previous records were retired.

Men throw an 800 g javelin between 2.6 and 2.7 m long; women throw 600 g between 2.2 and 2.3 m. Both have a metal head, a cord grip at the centre of gravity, and strict limits on surface roughness and tail dimensions — the 1980s produced several designs that were banned for generating too much lift.