Javelin points in multievents

[larkim]

Just curious as I've never looked into it, but is there perceieved to be any impact on overall heptathlon or decathlon scores as a consequence of the changes over the years to the javelin spec? Clearly the points were rebased etc, but was there any concern that it was favourable / unfavourable in one direction or another? Just looking at the points history, JJK etc scored using the old implement so did she have an advantage?

[trickstat]

Actually no changes were made to the scoring tables when the spec was changed so the same distance scored the same number of points both before and after the changes. I think this came up on the Track & Field News a little while back and those who were most knowledgeable about the javelin felt that the change in spec made very little difference in distance to the vast majority of combined eventers as distances only tended to be reduced for more elite throwers. I think below about 60m for men there was considered to be little or no effect and the effect would be fairly small until an athlete is throwing well over 70m. I think for women the equivalent distances might be something like 45 and 55m. Arguably this means that an outstanding javelin thrower like Niklas Kaul might be considered to be penalised in so far that if he was 35 to 40 years older he might be throwing the old spear something like 84-85m and gaining about 1100 points.

[larkim]

Interesting, thanks. So Thiam's 59m also falls into the category of being a net points loser then too, compared to the 1980s-90s multieventers.

[nutsos]

Probably also her 57.91m from last years Euro's too.

[Ursus]

Partly depends on style, whether a thrower was dependent on raw power etc, but many elite throwers like Petranoff, Ottley and Hill had roughly 10% differentials. Not as great at lower distances but still noticeable - maybe 4 or 5m for a 60m thrower. There are no hard and fast rules though, Daley's bests were only a metre apart.....but 8 years, so a lot could have changed in that time.

Thing with the old spec was that it floated. If you really caught it and flighted it well, especially with a favourable wind you could shatter your PB by metres in a way that is much more difficult than the current one.