Fresh from extending his record with a sixth continental title at the African Senior Championships in Accra, Ghana, 2016 Olympic silver medallist Julius Yego will be eager to sustain that blazing momentum when he makes his first Diamond League appearance of the season in Rabat on Sunday.
Yego, fondly known as the “YouTube Man,” once again underlined his dominance on the continental stage after clinching his sixth African javelin title at the just-concluded African Senior Championships in Accra.
The Kenyan throwing legend unleashed the spear to 79.87m to secure gold, finishing ahead of Ethiopia’s Obang Otagiogulia, who settled for silver with 77.60m, while South Africa’s Smit Douw rounded off the podium with a 76.00m effort.
The 2015 world champion first announced his arrival at the African Championships in Nairobi in 2010, where he bagged bronze with a throw of 74.51m behind Egypt’s Ihab Al Sayed (78.02m) and South Africa’s Gerhardus Pienaar (75.96m).
Two years later in Porto-Novo, Benin, Yego ignited his golden streak, storming to victory with a throw of 76.68m ahead of Ghana’s John Ampomah (70.65m) and Nigeria’s Kenechukwu Ezeofor (69.58m).
He raised the benchmark in Marrakech in 2014 with a thunderous 84.72m effort, finishing ahead of Egypt’s Al Sayed (83.59m) and South Africa’s Robert Oosthuizen (77.81m). He successfully defended the title again in Asaba, Nigeria, in 2018 with a mark of 77.34m, fending off South Africa’s Phil-Mar van Rensburg (76.57m) and Nigeria’s Samuel Adams (75.69m).
Yego maintained his stranglehold in Port Louis, Mauritius, in 2022 after producing a winning throw of 79.62m, with Al Sayed (77.12m) and Van Rensburg (74.10m) completing the podium places.
He then stretched his record further with a fifth consecutive crown in Douala, Cameroon, in 2024, firing the javelin to 80.24m to defeat Nigeria’s Chinecherem Nnamdi (79.22m) and Egypt’s Mustafa Khaliq (77.25m).
The 37-year-old revealed that the Accra showdown marked his final appearance at the African Championships, with his focus now firmly fixed on Beijing 2027 and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games as he seeks to add fresh layers to an already glittering athletics legacy.
“I think this is my last African Championships, so now my focus is next year’s World Championships and the LA Olympics in 2028,” said Yego.
Yego had earlier opened his season on April 24 at the Kip Keino Classic, where he narrowly missed out on the podium, settling for fourth place with a 79.87m effort.
He now heads into Sunday’s Rabat Diamond League meeting seeking sharper returns after a mixed campaign on the circuit in 2025.
Last season, Yego launched his Diamond League campaign in Doha, where he finished ninth with 78.52m before improving to sixth in Paris with an 80.26m throw.
He later registered his first Diamond League victory of the season in Silesia, producing a commanding 83.60m effort.
However, he wrapped up his campaign with back-to-back fifth-place finishes in Brussels (80.50m) and the Diamond League Final in Zurich (82.01m).
In Rabat, Yego faces a formidable field led by one of the season’s hottest names, Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage.
Pathirage currently boasts the world-leading mark this year with a massive 89.37m throw.
Also lining up in the stacked field are reigning world champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, world silver medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada, and 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany.
