Keshorn Wal­cott cap­tured the men’s javelin ti­tle at the World Out­door Track and Field Cham­pi­onships at the Na­tion­al Sta­di­um in Tokyo, Japan, Thurs­day.

Wal­cott se­cured the gold with a fourth-round ef­fort of 88.16 me­tres to win this coun­try’s first medal at the glob­al pre­mier meet. The 32-year-old fin­ished ahead of Grena­di­an An­der­son Pe­ters (87.38m) and USA’s Cur­tis Thomp­son (86.67m), re­spec­tive­ly.

The To­co -born throw­er was eighth af­ter his first round throw of 81.22m as Thomp­son (86.67m) led from In­di­an Sachin Ya­dav (86.27m), Pe­ters (84.59m), Sri Lan­ka’s Rumesh Pathi­rage (84.38m), de­fend­ing cham­pi­on Neer­aj Chopra of In­dia (83.65m), world-leader Ju­lian We­ber of Ger­many (83.63m), Paris Olympic win­ner Pak­istani Ar­shad Nadeem (82.73m).

Pe­ters then took the top spot with 87.38m in the sec­ond round. How­ev­er, Wal­cott re­spond­ed with 87.83m to sur­pass the Grena­di­an who won the World ti­tle in 2019 and 2022. The na­tion­al record-hold­er did not im­prove in the third round (81.65m) but re­grouped and ex­tend­ed his lead with 88.16m, one round lat­er, with Pe­ters in sec­ond and Thomp­son now in third. The To­co Sec­ondary grad­u­ate held off the qual­i­ty field to add the World crown to the Olympic gold he won in Lon­don, Eng­land, in 2012, 13 years ago as a 19-year-old.

The Tokyo tri­umph was his first medal at his sev­enth World Cham­pi­onships. He bowed out in the qual­i­fy­ing round in 2013 (Moscow, Rus­sia) and 2015 (Bei­jing, Chi­na) be­fore fin­ish­ing in sev­enth in 2017 (Lon­don, Eng­land). Two years lat­er, he was 11th in Do­ha, Qatar. In Eu­gene, Ore­gon, USA, in 2022, he again did not get past the qual­i­fy­ing stage. In Bu­dapest, Hun­gary, in 2023, he did not get in­to the com­pe­ti­tion venue af­ter he was in­jured while warm­ing up.

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games bronze medal­list has now added the World Out­door crown to the 2012 World Un­der-20 ho­n­ours, which he grabbed in Barcelona, Spain, less than a month be­fore his Olympic tri­umph.

Wal­cott was ec­sta­t­ic af­ter the win.

“It feels great. It has been a long 13 years. Just be­ing per­sis­tent. 2016 has been the last time I was on the podi­um and the World Cham­pi­onship medal has al­ways been out of my reach.. Fi­nal­ly, tonight I have got­ten it. I could not be more hap­py, “ said the 2015 Pan Amer­i­can Games vic­tor, who was proud to see the T&T flag fly high in Tokyo.

“I am grate­ful to be able to de­liv­er this medal for my coun­try be­cause the peo­ple have been a bit rest­less when it comes to medals. Fi­nal­ly, I am able to de­liv­er once again a gold medal to my coun­try.”

The 2018 and 2023 Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean (CAC) Games cham­pi­on did not for­get the peo­ple who were in­stru­men­tal in his suc­cess.

He said, “I would like to thank every­one who has been sup­port­ing me. There have been ups and downs. I have had a lot of good peo­ple in my cor­ner keep­ing me mo­ti­vat­ed. There were times when it seemed too hard. I want to thank my coach for trust­ing me this year and giv­ing me the chance to be coached by him. We made some good changes and we saw them paid off. That was one of the biggest bless­ings for 2025.”

Pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) Di­ane Hen­der­son was hap­py for Wal­cott.

“I am just elat­ed and ec­sta­t­ic for Keshorn’s win. He has been work­ing hard and be­ing per­sis­tent and de­ter­mined and try­ing for an­oth­er gold. We knew that we want­ed it. Hence, the TTOC con­tin­ued to stick be­hind and con­tin­ue to sup­port him when­ev­er he asked.”

Ish­mael Lopez, who coached to the 2012 Olympic ti­tle, said, “I am very hap­py in Tokyo that he fi­nal­ly got a medal at the World Cham­pi­onships.”

His aunt, An­na Lee Wal­cott-Stew­art, a for­mer Carif­ta cham­pi­on, was beam­ing with joy. “I am very proud of Kesh. He has shown that, de­spite his chal­lenges and the naysay­ers, he can do well. Many peo­ple do not un­der­stand how many el­e­ments need to come to­geth­er to suc­ceed-men­tal, phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al. He has proven to many, when the time comes, he shows up and shows out.”

Pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ic Ad­min­is­tra­tion of T&T (NAATT) Ephraim Serette was in Tokyo and wit­nessed Wal­cott’s gold­en throw.

He said, “It is a bless­ing that would al­low us to ben­e­fit and au­gur well for the NAAAA to seek spon­sors. The NAAA has suf­fered from the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) with­draw­ing spon­sor­ship. NGC has been a spon­sor for the last 25 years. Sit­ting in the are­na and see­ing him win brought back mem­o­ries from 2012.”

Men’s Javelin fi­nals

1 Keshorn Wal­cott (T&T) 88.16 (81.22, 87.83, 81.65, 88.16, 85.85, 83.00

2 An­der­son Pe­ters (Grena­da) 87.38

3 Cur­tis Thomp­son (USA) 86.67

4 Sachin Ya­dav (In­dia) 86.27

5 Ju­lian We­ber (Ger­many) 86.11

6 Julius Yego (Kenya) 85.54

7 Rumesh Pathi­rage (Sri Lan­ka) 84.38

8 Neer­aj Chopra (In­dia) 84.03

9 Daw­id Weg­n­er (Poland) 83.03

10 Ar­shad Nadeem (Pak­istan) 82.75

11 Jakub Vadle­jch (Czechia) 78.71

12 Cameron McEn­tyre (Aus­tralia) 75.65