Athletics: Teuraiterai Tupaia beats the French javelin throw record, which had stood for 35 years, with 86.11 meters
With a javelin three shots. Teuraiterai Tupaia greatly improved his personal best on Friday May 17 at the Fontainebleau meeting, also beating the French record and winning his ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. His best performance, established in 2021, was 80.86 meters: the Tahitian pulverized it by more than five meters by reaching 86.11 meters on his second try. The oldest record in France for athletics in an Olympic discipline, men and women combined, has fallen.
The minimums for qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games being established at 85.50 meters, this throw allows Tupaia to win his ticket to compete in the Games at home. The 24-year-old narrowly missed qualifying for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
“It’s a total liberation, confided the double French champion to athlé.tv. I think of my family who are on the other side of the world, who have always supported me, but also of those around me, my coach, everyone who helps me in Strasbourg [son pôle espoirs]. The Olympic minimums were the objective, so we can say that the work pays off, we are going to experience the Olympics at home!”
It is also a liberation for the tricolor javelin, particularly in difficulty in recent years, which is finding colors on the international scene: Teuraiterai Tupaia has just signed the fifth best world performance of the year, and would have won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics with this throw.
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