Former Sri Lankan Fast Bowler Rumesh Pathirage Overtakes Neeraj Chopra, Becomes 2nd Asian To...

Former fast bowler Rumesh Pathirage scripted history on Thursday (June 4) by becoming the first Sri Lankan and overall fourth Asian athlete to breach the 90-metre mark in the javelin throw. Pathirage was in action at the Rome Diamond League on Thursday, and he touched the distance of 92.62m.

Neeraj Chopra of India, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, and Cheng Chao-Tsun of Taiwan are the other three Asians to have breached the 90m mark in men’s javelin.

Pathirage’s throw of 92.62m at the Rome Diamond League is the 21st-best throw in the history of the javelin throw.

HISTORIC 🇱🇰🔥
Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage has stunned the athletics world with a sensational 92.62m javelin throw to win the Rome Diamond League.

🏅 1st athlete to break 90m in 2026

🏅 8th-best throw in world history 🏅 World-leading mark for 2026 🏅 2nd-longest throw… pic.twitter.com/HQ65ej0HzZ

— Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 (@SriLankaTweet) June 5, 2026

The record for the longest-ever throw in men’s javelin is in the name of Jan Železný. The former Czech Republic athlete reached a distance of 98.48m in 1996.

Best throws in men’s javelin

RANK	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK	YEAR
1.	Jan Železny	Czech Republic	98.48	1996
2.	Johannes Vetter	Germany	97.76	2020
3.	Thomas Rohler	Germany	93.90	2017
4.	Aki Parviainen	Finland	93.09	1999
5.	Anderson Peters	Grenada	93.07	2022
6.	Arshad Nadeem	Pakistan	92.97	2024
7.	Julius Yego	Kenya	92.72	2015
8.	Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage	Sri Lanka	92.62	2026
9.	Sergey Makarov	Russia	92.61	2002
10.	Raymond Hecht	Germany	92.60	1995
11.	Andreas Hofmann	Germany	92.06	2018
12.	Konstantinos Gatsioudis	Greece	91.69	2000
13.	Andreas Thorkildsen	Norway	91.59	2006
14.	Tero Pitkamaki	Finland	91.53	2005
15.	Julian Weber	Germany	91.51	2025
16.	Steve Backley	Great Britain	91.46	1992
17.	Chao-Tsun Cheng	Chinese Taipei	91.36	2017
18.	Breaux Greer	USA	91.29	2007
19.	Luiz Mauricio Da Silva	Brazil	91.00	2025
20.	Jakub Vadlejch	Czech Republic	90.88	2022
21.	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	90.82	1991
22.	Vadims Vasilevskis	Latvia	90.73	2007
23.	Magnus Kirt	Estonia	90.61	2019
24.	Seppo Raty	Finland	90.60	1992
25.	Boris Henry	Germany	90.44	1997
26.	Neeraj Chopra	India	90.23	2025
27.	Max Dehning	Germany	90.20	2024
28.	Keshorn Walcott	Trinidad and Tobago	90.16	2015

Among Asians, Pathirage has now registered the second-best throw. Only Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (92.97m) is ahead of him. Cheng Chao-Tsun is in third spot with a best throw of 91.36m, and Neeraj Chopra’s best-ever throw is 90.23m.

Best throw’s in men’s javelin by Asians

RANK	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK	YEAR
1.	Arshad Nadeem	Pakistan	92.97	2024
2.	Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage	Sri Lanka	92.62	2026
3.	Chao-Tsun Cheng	Chinese Taipei	91.36	2017
4.	Neeraj Chopra	India	90.23	2025
5.	Qinggang Zhao	China	89.15	2014

Pathirage came into Thursday’s competition as the season leader in the world with his 89.37m throw in a domestic event in March. It was his first Diamond League title.

It has been a breakout year for Pathirage as he had finished second in the Diamond League leg in Rabat, Morocco, on May 31 with a throw of 85.97m after winning the title at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, with a massive effort of 89.28m.

India’s Sachin finishes 8th

Top Indian javelin thrower Sachin Yadav’s Diamond League debut ended in disappointment as he finished eighth in a star-studded 10-man field with a below par performance here on Thursday.

The 26-year-old could only muster a best throw of 79.18m on the day, well below his personal best of 86.27m which he had produced while finishing fourth in the Tokyo World Championships last year. He has had the season’s best of 81.95m while finishing second at the Indian Athletics Series 3 in April in New Delhi.

Yadav began with a foul throw, and then had 79.18m, 77.02m, 76.62m, 75.54 in his next four attempts to end at the eighth spot after five throws. Only the top three after the fifth round are allowed to have their sixth and final throw.