Rumesh Pathirage Threw Ninety One Point Zero Nine Metres to Win the Javelin in Budapest for Sri Lanka
The twenty three year old beat Anderson Peters by almost five metres, with Julian Weber third and Keshorn Walcott and Arshad Nadeem behind them.
Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka won the javelin at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on 13 September 2026 with a throw of 91.09m.
Anderson Peters of Grenada was second with 86.18m and Julian Weber of Germany third with 85.89m. Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago finished fourth on 82.41m, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan fifth on 81.49m and Julius Yego of Kenya sixth on 80.23m. The winning margin was 4.91m.
Pathirage was born on 21 March 2003 in Kalutara and is 23. His personal best and Sri Lankan national record of 92.62m was set in Rome earlier in 2026. He arrived in Budapest as the 2026 Commonwealth champion and the 2026 Diamond League champion in the event.
The championship was held at the National Athletics Centre from 11 to 13 September and carried a total purse of 10 million US dollars, with 150,000 dollars going to each event winner. The invitational field of 381 athletes was drawn from 65 federations.