Men's javelin: Former World champion falters when it mattered most

Julius Yego of Kenya reacts during the men's javelin throw final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China August 26, 2015. REUTERS

'I'm sorry I let you down,' says Yego

The Kenyan athlete has apologised to fans for surrendering the World title.

In the 2015 Beijing World Athletics Championships, Julius Yego made history when he won Kenya's first field event medal - a gold, no less.

So when he paraded for Saturday night's final in this year's World Championships in London, a similar show was expected of the champion. But in the end, it was a disappointing finish for the bulky Kenyan javelin star.

Yego's hopes of defending his javelin title were shattered when he managed just 76.29 metres. German Johannes Vetter won the title as the 28-year-old Kenyan finished 13th, way below his season best of 87.97 achieved during the national trials in June.

Yego attributed his bad show to a groin injury he sustained in the warm-up area.

"Disappointing to get a recurrence of groin partial tear again, same as it was in Rio, in the warm-up area. But it's sport (and) things do happen not the way we want (sic). Sorry for my fans will get well soon," Yego posted on his Facebook page.

In last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Vetter shed tears of frustration as he missed out on the bronze medal by 6cm to finish in fourth place. Twelve months on, on the penultimate night of action at the IAAF World Championships, the 24-year-old German cried tears of joy as he stepped up to gold medal status.

In doing so, courtesy of a first round throw of 89.89m, Vetter – who followed up with throws of 89.78m, 87.22m, a fifth round foul and 82.25m – maintained the trend of fourth-place throwers graduating to gold at the next global championships.

This time, it was Thomas Rohler, Vetter's German teammate and rival, who took fourth place.

Meanwhile, it was another bad show for the Kenyans in the men's 5,000m final as Cyrus Ruto clocked 13:48.64 to finish the race in 13th place. The race was won by Muktar Edris of Ethiopia who beat Briton Mo Farah (silver). Olympic silver medallist Paul Chelimo (US) took the bronze.