European Athletics Championships 1990 / men's javelin

15th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Men
Attendees	30 athletes from 15 countries
venue	Split
Competition location	Poljud Stadium
Competition phase	August 27th (qualification) August 28th (final)
Medalist Steve Backley ( GBR )   Viktor Saizew ( URS )   Patrik Bodén ( SWE )

The Poljud stadium in Split in 2010

The men's javelin throw at the 1990 European Athletics Championships was held on August 27 and 28, 1990 in the Poljud Stadium in Split .

European champion was the Briton Steve Backley . He won against the Soviet thrower Viktor Saizew . Bronze went to the Swede Patrik Bodén .

Records

Existing records

World record	89.58 m	Steve Backley	Stockholm , Sweden	2nd July 1990
European record
Championship record	84.76 m	Klaus Tafelmeier	EM Stuttgart , Federal Republic of Germany	August 27, 1986

Comment on the world and European records:
The above-mentioned world / European records were exceeded by Jan Železný before these European championships on July 14, 1990 with 89.66 m . But the spear used for this purpose, provided with aerodynamic advantages, which was approved until September 21, 1991, was subsequently declared inadmissible by the IAAF . The world records achieved by Jan Železný, Steve Backley and Seppo Räty were considered invalid, Backley's 89.58 meters were again considered a world record.  

Record improvement

The existing EM record was improved twice at these European Championships:

• 85.48 m - Einar Vilhjálmsson , qualification on August 27th
• 87.30 m - Steve Backley , final on August 28th 

qualification

August 27, 1990

Thirty participants entered the qualifying round. The qualification distance for direct entry into the final was 79.00 m. Nine athletes exceeded this mark (highlighted in light blue). The final field was filled with the three next placed athletes to twelve throwers (highlighted in light green). So finally 77.82 m had to be achieved for the final.

Group A

Jan Železný, later one of the world's best javelin throwers, missed the final by eighteen centimeters

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)
1	Viktor Saizew	Soviet Union	81.00
2	Vladimir Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union	79.94
3	Seppo Räty	Finland	79.50
4th	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	79.04
5	Raymond Hecht	GDR	78.24
6th	Johan van Lieshout	Netherlands	77.82
7th	Jan Železný	Czechoslovakia	77.64
8th	Dag Wennlund	Sweden	77.32
9	Sigurdur Einarsson	Iceland	77.32
10	Marko Hyytiäinen	Finland	75.88
11	Ivan Mustapic	Yugoslavia	75.04
12	Peter Schreiber	BR Germany	74.08
13	Peter Blank	BR Germany	73.30
14th	Gary Jenson	Great Britain	71.60
15th	Fikret Özsoy	Turkey	68.86

Group B

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)
1	Einar Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	85.48 CR
2	Steve Backley	Great Britain	82.24
3	Patrik Bodén	Sweden	81.36
4th	Klaus Tafelmeier	BR Germany	79.84
5	Mick Hill	Great Britain	79.16
6th	Pascal Lefèvre	France	78.68
7th	Marek Kaleta	Soviet Union	77.64
8th	Peter Borglund	Sweden	77.46
9	Sejad Krdžalic	Yugoslavia	77.28
10	Terry McHugh	Ireland	76.14
11	Dumitru Negoita	Romania	74.36
12	Radoman Šcekic	Yugoslavia	73.34
13	Rudolf Steiner	Switzerland	73.12
14th	Sigurdur Mathíasson	Iceland	72.52
15th	Jeroen van der Meer	Netherlands	67.76

final

August 28, 1990

space	Surname	nation	Width (m)
1	Steve Backley	Great Britain	87.30 CR
2	Viktor Saizew	Soviet Union	83.30
3	Patrik Bodén	Sweden	82.68
4th	Mick Hill	Great Britain	82.38
5	Seppo Räty	Finland	79.84
6th	Vladimir Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union	79.16
7th	Pascal Lefèvre	France	79.98
8th	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	79.00
9	Einar Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	78.14
10	Raymond Hecht	GDR	77.72
11	Klaus Tafelmeier	BR Germany	77.26
12	Johan van Lieshout	Netherlands	75.52

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Split 1990 at european-athletics.org, accessed on August 28, 2019
• European Championship 1990 Split, Men Javelin Throw on todor66.com, accessed September 14, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1990 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on September 14, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men Javelin Throw European Championship 1990 Split, p. 455 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on September 14, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1990, javelin men on sportschau.de, accessed on September 14, 2019
• 15th European Athletics Championships 1990 in Split, Yugoslavia from ifosta.de, accessed on September 14, 2019

Video

• Men's Javelin European Champs in Split 1990 , published on September 9, 2015 on youtube.com (English), accessed on September 14, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b} IAAF world records. Javelin Men , Retrieved September 14, 2019