Germany's Johannes Vetter came close to breaking the javelin world record, throwing 97.76m at the Skolimowska Memorial, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold in Poland.
Vetter's effort on Sunday is the second farthest throw of all time, just 72 centimeters behind Jan Zelezny's 98.48m world record set 24 years ago.
"I just don't know what to say, it was really close to a perfect moment," said Vetter, who threw more than three metres farther than he's ever thrown before, as quoted by World Athletics.
"You can feel it in your body when you have a good throw," the 2017 world champion said. "Mostly you feel the whole energy behind it, from your whole body - from the right toe to the chest to the hands. In the javelin you need your whole body. But it's really hard to explain - you feel it for less than one second. But then you realise that it was a huge throw. The 2017 world champion's previous best was 94.44m set three years ago, and he was confident that he still had room to improve."
"I think lots of people didn't think it was possible to throw a javelin more than 95 meters in a closed stadium. I did it and I think there is a lot space for improvement. Very small differences, tiny differences, can make a difference of many meters," Vetter, who returns to action in Dessau on Tuesday, added.
