Jakub Vadlejch

• Status: Active
• Height: 191cm
• Weight: ~93kg
• Age: 34
• Birthday: October 10, 1990
• Nationality: Czech
• Events: Javelin
• Personal Bests:
  • Javelin: 90.88m

Jakub Vadlejch Honours

• 2021 Olympic Games Silver
• 2017 World Championships Silver
• 2023 World Championships Bronze
• 2022 World Championships Bronze
• Diamond League Final winner x3
• 2024 European Champion
• National Champion x6

Sports Career of Jakub Vadlejch | Jakub Vadlejch Biography

Jakub Vadlejch was born in Prague on October 10, 1990. He has been competing internationally in the javelin since he reached the final of the 2007 World Youth Championships at the age of 16. By 2010, he increased his personal best to 84.47 meters and qualified for his first senior national team at the 2010 European Championships, still only 20 years old. Within two years, he would make his debut at the Olympics, throwing 77.61 meters and finishing 10^th in his qualifying section. 

Vadlejch would win his first national championship in 2014 with a throw of 81.26 meters. He would follow this up with another victory the next year with a throw of 81.91 meters.

Vadlejch would see a big breakthrough the next season, improving his personal best from 86.21 meters, set in 2015, to 88.02 meters. He would achieve this throw at the Diamond League meeting in Paris and take home the win. He would also qualify for his second Olympics. He would progress farther this time, making it to the final and finishing eight. In the same season, he would win the Diamond League meetings in London and Zurich, which was the Diamond League Final.

In 2017, Vadlejch would win pick up a silver medal at the London World Championships, his first medal at a World Championship. His throw of 89.73 meters at the championships would be a new personal best. He would go on to win the Diamond League Final at the end of the season for the second time.

Going into the Tokyo Olympics, he was coming off a few compeitions relatively modest compared to his elite standard. However, in the Olympic final he would throw 86.67 meters to finish second only to Neeraj Chopra.

Jakub Vadlejch Throw 90 Meters

Vadlejch would break the 90-meter barrier for the first time at the Doha Diamond League event in 2022, landing a throw at 90.88 meters. This excellent early season result would be a sign of things to come for Vadlejch. Later in the season, he would get bronze at the World Championships with a 88.09 meters.  This was his fifth World Championship and his second medal. He would also go on to pick up silver at the 2022 European Championships, finishing behind Julian Weber. 

At the 2023 World Championships, Vadlejch would find himself in the bronze medal position behind Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem, the men who would take the top two spots at the Olympics the next season.

Going in to the 2024 season, Vadlejch looked poised to have another high finish at the Olympics after consistently throwing in the high 80-meter range. He would win the European Championships in June with a throw of 88.65 meters, edging out Germany’s Julian Weber who finished ahead him at this competition in 2022. Vadlejch would also throw well at the Olympics, tossing 88.50 meters, but he would have to settle for fourth in a strong field.