Athletics: Langton Burnell strives for 90m mark

Ben Langton Burnell is off to a pre-worlds training camp in Cardiff. The thrower nailed a personal best of 82.44m last month and feels hitting 90m is a reality. Photo / Getty Image

Among sports most exhilarating sights is the javelin being hurled extraordinary distances at athletics' grand stadiums.

No one did it better, or longer, than Czech legend Jan Zelezny. The sight of him letting rip at the 1992 Barcelona Games, with a blend of power and technique, and the gob-smacked roar of the crowd as it sailed 3m further than his closest challenger to secure the first of three successive Olympic golds, lives on in the memory.

He still holds the four longest throws in history, but the next two on that alltime list are Germans Johannes Vetter and Thomas Rohler, expected to duel for gold at the world championships in London next month. They have thrown 94.44m and 93.90m respectively in the past few weeks. Zelezny's world record stands at a stunning 98.48m.

"The level of javelin throwing in the world is phenomenal. The bar is by far the highest it has ever been," said Cambridge-based thrower Ben Langton Burnell, New Zealand's latest athlete to qualify for the worlds.

The 24-year-old, originally from Palmerston North, is off to New Zealand's pre-worlds training camp in Cardiff next week, after being confirmed as the ninth member of New Zealand's team. He's there by dint of both having won the Oceania title, and ranking 22nd in the world. The field events are restricted to the top 32 and with the qualifying window shutting tomorrow, there's no chance of him being bumped down 11 places.

New Zealand has a line of three quality javelin throwers in recent years, from Mike O'Rourke, the 1982 Commonwealth Games champion, through Gavin Lovegrove, who competed at two Olympics and still holds the national record at 88.20m, then Stuart Farquhar, who had a lengthy career, which ended after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games three years ago.

He's been a mentor to Langton Burnell, who was turned on to javelin by the sight of Farquhar competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"I played lots of sports when I was a kid but I watched Stu at the Olympics and thought I'll give it a go at the school sports and it went from there."

Winning the national under-17 title cemented the idea that he may have an aptitude for the discipline. Other sporting interests, especially racquet sports, fell away.

"As soon as I started javelin I thought I could get to the top, and I'd love to get to where Stu did, competing at the Olympics."

This has been a significant year for Langton Burnell.

He nailed a personal best 82.44m on his home track at Porritt Stadium last month, which bettered the standard for nomination for next year's Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, then won the Oceania title easily in Suva at the start of this month, with 78.10m.

"The goal for me this year was to go over 80m. I came into the season with a PB of 77m. This season has gone well. I've gone over 82m and creeping in towards 83m. I'm stoked with how the season has gone.

"With the law of diminishing return, you expect the incremental increase to be less and less each year, but this has been fantastic. I've clicked with a few things, am a bit more powerful and it's started to come together."

Langton Burnell feels reaching 90m is now a reality, albeit not for a couple of years. He's conscious that he needs to guard against sacrificing technique for raw power.

Do that and, as he put it, "the technical model will fall away and your body will break. But I definitely feel it [breaking 90m] is do-able."

The Princeton-based hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe (ranked 26th) and discus thrower Marshall Hall (23rd) are 65cm and 45cm respectively off their qualifying standard but are likely to get invitations next week.

Double Olympic medallist Nick Willis has his last chance to qualify for the 1500m in Monaco's Diamond League race this morning. He sat 43rd before the race, with the field cut-off at 45 and still 0.95s off the mark. If he stays at 43rd, he should be in.

New Zealand team
New Zealand's world championship squad, with the prospect of up to three more athletes being added early next week, is: Camille Buscomb and Zane Robertson (10,000m), Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill (shot put), Eliza McCartney (pole vault), Angie Petty (800m), Joseph Miller (100m), Quentin Rew (walking) and Ben Langton Burnell (javelin).