Comeback-Queen: Javelin Champ Kitaguchi Haruka in Winning Form Heading into Paris

Save the Best for Last

Kitaguchi Haruka made history at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, by becoming the first Japanese woman to capture the javelin title, which she did in dramatic fashion. Trailing in fourth place, Kitaguchi in her last attempt unleashed a monster throw that sent the stadium into rapturous cheers as it sliced through the night sky. The 66.73-meter throw vaulted her to the top spot, where she remained after the final competitor, Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, failed to match the record. Kitaguchi has continued her winning ways and is keen to make history again at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

Kitaguchi’s performance in Budapest highlighted her ability to step up her performance in the latter half of competitions, a talent that has earned her the moniker “comeback queen.” Since claiming the world title, she has had several impressive wins, including golds at legs of the 2023 Diamond League in Poland and Belgium as well as a first-place finish at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States, which served as the finals of the circuit. This season she has won Diamond League competitions in China and Monaco, building her momentum ahead of the Olympics.

A sixth-throw specialist, Kitaguchi says she has the confidence to turn a competition around even when her back is to the wall, noting wryly that it can take her time to warm up. “ I’ll throw 55 meters in practicing and then 65 meters during a competition,” she declares. “Honestly, I don’t know what I have in me until I get going.”

Kitaguchi waves to fans during her winning performance at the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic on May 28, 2024. (© Reuters)

Kitaguchi attributes her shorter throws during practice sessions to overthinking. “I might have a bunch of different things I’m trying to pay attention to during practice sessions,” she says. “Once a competition starts, though, I concentrate on only a few points. With my mind uninhibited, I can pour everything I have into my throw.”

Focusing her mind, she is able to identify and correct any issues in her form with each successive throw, a talent that she has demonstrated throughout her career. In high school, for instance, she set a new competition record on her sixth and final throw. When she first set the Japanese national record in the women’s javelin in May 2019, as well, it was on her fifth throw. Over her career, she has forged the confidence to deliver as a competition progresses and remain in the running up to the very end.

Learning from a Javelin Powerhouse

Behind Kitaguchi’s performance is David Sekerak, coach of the Czech Republic’s national junior javelin team. In 2019, Kitaguchi travelled to the Czech Republic, known as a javelin powerhouse, and has since made the country her base of operation. The vastly improved run-up to her throw that she displayed last season was thanks to Sekerak. In the past, Kitaguchi tended to accelerate too early in her run-up and then lose speed before release. By last season, however, she was executing fast, rhythmical run-ups and smoothly transferring her momentum to the javelin. She has also gained considerable strength by including a weight training regimen.

Kitaguchi says that in the past she did not understand the relationship between the javelin and weight training, but that Sekerak convinced her of the importance of building her muscles. Subsequently, Kitaguchi has become more powerful while retaining her trademark flexibility, which has resulted in longer throws.

Kitaguchi and Sekerak share a strong athlete-coach bond. Speaking in Czech, Kitaguchi sometimes even pushes back against her coach’s advice.

Since the last winter season, Kitaguchi has been steadily preparing for the Paris Olympics, including working to increase the speed of her run-ups and partnering with a nutritionist. She says she feels that practicing sprinting with a training partner has improved her speed. While it is challenging to engineer faster run-ups, Kitaguchi has continued to tweak her form, as has been demonstrated this season, declaring that “competition is the best practice.”

Kitaguchi Haruka relishes her comeback performance in the final round of the Golden Grand Prix on May 19, 2024, at the Japan National Stadium, in Tokyo. (© Jiji)

Turning Pressure into Performance

Kitaguchi has ridden her momentum on the 2023 circuit into this season and has continued to improve her form. She has racked up an impressive string of wins, including her two Diamond League titles. Even as runner-up at a World Athletics Continental Tour event in Finland in June, Kitaguchi logged a 64.28-meter throw, her best of the season until her 65.21-meter mark in Monaco.

At the Japan Championships, also in June, Kitaguchi regained the Japanese title after two years. Although she expressed disappointment at her throw of 62.87 meters, it was an improvement on her tearful loss at last year’s championships and demonstrated how her sense of frustration has spurred her on to set new records and to claim her first world championship.

Speaking of her chances at the Paris Olympics, Kitaguchi says, “I want to win a medal, like everyone else, but I know it won’t be easy. Still, I’ve done everything to be prepare for the competition.”

Winning the World Athletics Championships in 2023, Kitaguchi went from striving for the top to working to stay ahead of the pack. Faced with such unprecedented pressure, the 26-year-old has yet to make a throw this season that meets her own high expectations. However, she remains undaunted heading into Paris, her second Olympics, where her reputation for late-game dramatics is certain to keep fans on the edge of their seats.

(Banner photo: Kitaguchi Haruka at the 2024 Diamond League competitions on July 20, 2024, at London Stadium. © Action Images via Reuters Connect.)