Petr Frydrych (; born 13 January 1988) is a Czech

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competes in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. His personal best of 88.32 m was set at the 2017 World Championships, where he won the bronze medal. He is coached by

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and three-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Champion

Jan Železný Jan Železný (; born 16 June 1966) is a Czech former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World and Olympic champion and holds the world record with a throw of . Widely considered to be the greatest javelin thrower ...

Early career

Frydrych competed in the 2005 World Youth Championships, 2006 World Junior Championships and 2007 European Junior Championships, without much success. In 2009 Frydrych, by then under Železný's guidance, exploded to the international elite. He improved his personal best from 75.55 to 84.96 and placed second in the European U23 Championships in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, passed in the last round by Finland's

Ari Mannio Ari Pekka Mannio (born July 23, 1987) is a Finnish javelin thrower. Early career Mannio first represented Finland internationally at the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival in Paris, France, where he won the bronze medal. The next year, he co ...

. He qualified for the final at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, finishing 10th with a 79.29 effort. The 2010 season started well for Frydrych, who first improved to 85.60 at the May 23

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

, losing to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

's two-time Olympic Champion

Andreas Thorkildsen Andreas Thorkildsen (born 1 April 1982) is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the fir ...

by only half a metre. Only four days later, he threw a world-leading 88.23 metres at the

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

meet in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

. In javelin's first appearance in the inaugural IAAF Diamond Race, at

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

on June 4, Frydrych again placed a narrow second to Thorkildsen, this time with a mark of 85.33. Frydrych was second to Thorkildsen once more at the

Adidas Grand Prix The USA Track & Field, USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. First started in 2005 as the Reebok Grand Prix and then Adidas Grand Prix, it was previously one of the IAAF ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but a back injury spoiled the rest of 2010 for him, and he only placed 10th at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. Frydrych won the 2011 Diamond League opener in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

with a mark of 85.32, almost a metre ahead of

Robert Oosthuizen John Robert Oosthuizen (born 23 January 1987) is a South African javelin thrower. He is a second generation athlete following in his father Johan Oosthuizen's footstep. Oosthuizen senior's, who never got the chance to represent his country in i ...

Seasonal bests by year

*2006 – 70.91 *2007 – 75.55 *2008 – 74.13 *2009 – 84.96 *2010 – 88.23 *2011 – 85.32 *2012 – 81.14 *2013 – 82.39 *2014 – 85.07 *2015 – 85.52 *2016 – 84.10 *2017 – 88.32

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frydrych, Petr 1988 births Living people Czech male javelin throwers Olympic athletes for the Czech Republic Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics People from Klatovy World Athletics Championships athletes for the Czech Republic World Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from the Plzeň Region