Julius Yego, Kenya’s reigning African champion and Commonwealth Games record holder, bowed out in the qualifications stage after throwing 79.60m at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA.
This is after the four-time African javelin champion finished eighth in the second group of the qualifiers after throwing 79.60m in the qualifications stage.
Yego needed to throw 83.50m to secure automatic qualification.
Anderson Peters of Germany won the group with a throw of 89.91m, followed by Julian Weber of Germany with a throw of 87.28m and Oliver Helander of Sweden with a throw of 82.41m.
His season best of 80.62m set on June 25 at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani qualified him for the World Championships based on world ranking.
By the June 2 qualifying deadline, Yego was ranked 25th in the world, with the top 30 athletes securing their places in the Worlds.
Yego won silver with his only throw at the 2016 Rio Olympics, a year after becoming the first Kenyan to win gold in the javelin at the World Championships.
He made history by becoming the first African to win the javelin at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China, with a massive throw of 92.72m. A mark that is still the continental record.
