8. JULIUS YEGO
Julius Yego is no stranger to upsetting the status quo; in fact the art of breaking records is gradually becoming his pastime, and one that the Kenyan Javelin thrower has no intention of stopping. Fondly referred to as the ‘YouTube Man’ (having honed his craft from watching YouTube videos), 2015 was the year Yego’s career witnessed a meteoric rise.
With an African Games GOLD medal and two African Championships titles to his name, Yego had conquered the continent and was in need of a breakthrough that would catapult him into global reckoning. He achieved this after becoming the first Kenyan to win the Commonwealth title in a Field event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
He set four National Records (NR) in 2015 alone, including an African Record of 91.39m at the Birmingham Grand Prix. However he had to dig deep in Beijing after failing to record a throw in his first attempt. His second throw landed at 82.42m, but his third attempt was the game changer, hauling a massive World Lead (WL) and African Record of 92.72m, thus recording the farthest mark by an athlete in 14 years, which shot him to No.3 on the All-time list.
He also inspired an African 1-2 in the event as Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman joined him on the podium, taking Silver in 88.99m. Yego’s triumph produced Kenya’s first World Championships GOLD in a Field event. Ending the year as the World No.1, Yego will certainly be one to watch out for ahead of Rio 2016 as there’s no telling what he has up his sleeves.
