Helsinki, Jun30: Double Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen has been slowed by a quad injury at the European Championships but expects to be fit to pick up his quest for a third javelin gold at the London Games.
The Norwegian finished fourth at the Euros on Thursday and retired halfway through the competition where he was the double defending champion.
He said on Saturday that the injury in his right leg slowed him down too much on the runway, affecting the lengths of his throws.
Thorkildsen said he retired from the final because he did not want to aggravate the injury so close to the Olympics. In London he can expect the toughest competition from newly crowned European champion Vitezlav Vesely of the Czech Republic.
