Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage scripted history as he became the first Sri Lankan to win the men’s javelin throw at the Diamond League Final 2026 in Brussels on Saturday.
Continuing his magnificent run, the 23-year-old produced the best throw of 89.04m in the third round at the King Baudouin Stadium, finishing ahead of Poland’s Dawid Wegner, who registered a personal best of 87.47m.
Former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago finished third with a season-best throw of 83.99m, while Grenada’s two-time world champion Anderson Peters finished fourth with an 83.70m throw. India’s had also qualified for the final but he pulled out of the tournament after picking up an injury during training. Neeraj was thus ruled out of the Diamond League final and the Asian Games.
A Slow Start But A Very Strong End
didn’t have a great start by his standards and managed a throw of 80.42m in the first attempt before managing 79.73m with his second attempt. Walcott took an early lead with a 83.99, in the first round before Wegner topped the table with a personal best of 87.47m in the third. But Rumesh responded with a third throw of 89.04 to take the lead. He then followed it with efforts of 85.96m and 85.76m before fouling his final attempt, but the third throw was enough for him to win the Diamond League final.
“I’m truly very happy about that,” Rumesh said. “Coming from a small country like Sri Lanka, winning a major meet like this.”
“Honestly, I couldn’t get a big throw today because the weather conditions were quite difficult – it was very cold… so that’s why I couldn’t reach a big distance,” Rumesh explained.
Meanwhile, the win marked an end to a sensational season for Rumesh, who’d qualified for the Diamond League final as table topper with 39 points. Along with winning Commonwealth Games gold, he won four out of the five Diamond League meetings. He recorded two throws in excess of 90m and seven beyond 88m, including five above 89m. His best throw came at the Rome Diamond League in June, where he set a Sri Lankan national record and world-leading mark of 92.62m.