Nothing happened with the Mustang.

Julian Weber would have liked to win that.

The car was advertised as a special prize at the recent Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.

However, the USC Mainz javelin thrower would not only have had to win his competition, but above all would have had to break the Finnish record, which Aki Parviainen has held since 1999 with 93.09 meters.

"That's ambitious," Weber admitted in advance, "but you have to have goals."

In this case he missed.

Weber finished fifth with 84.02 meters, level with fourth-placed Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Finn Oliver Helander was surprisingly ahead, who also left behind the Indian Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra – but also clearly missed the main prize with 89.83 meters.

For Weber, the trip to Turku will not change the fact that he is having the best season of his career and will be the favorite in the German Championships on the last weekend in June to defend the title he won for the first time last year.

The norm for the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA, has been in his pocket since his first competition this year - at the Diamond Meeting in Doha in mid-May he made his best start to the season to date.

At the beginning of June he went one step further on these 86.09 meters: In Hengelo (Netherlands) he increased his personal best by more than 80 centimeters to 89.54 meters.

That surprised him.

As good as the preparations for the season in the winter months went without any significant injuries (“Every now and then there was a tweak, but I know that”), the days leading up to this competition were just as suboptimal because of a move, he said in Berlin living athlete.

And the weather conditions were also bad.

Before the competition it poured like cats and dogs, and the man from Mainz was still wearing a rain poncho when throwing it in.

Weber explained his tactics, slowly approaching the really big distances.

"First and foremost, the throws should be technically clean, I wanted to get the javelin placed nicely in the air." Due to the changing winds, this wasn't easy, which is why he considered going back to the approach of earlier days: "Slam it, throw the javelin through hit the wind.

But then it worked."

He was fourth at the Olympics and sixth at the World Championships

Julian Weber had more or less announced his top performance.

In a digital press conference by the German Athletics Association, he reported that he was more stable than ever.

"I'm on the way to throwing my best distance and beyond." This announcement was followed by action.

"I stay to my word."

He's aiming for "beyond" this season, he doesn't just want to scratch the 90 meters.

His first and long-standing trainer Stephan Kallenberg had believed him capable of this before, but not least several serious injuries with long absences threw the highly talented USC athlete back again and again.

But Weber always showed comeback qualities.

In 2019 in Doha he finished sixth at the World Championships, in 2021 in Tokyo fourth at the Olympic Games, just 14 centimeters short of bronze.

"And now I was finally able to do what I've always wanted to show."

Throwing so far so early in the season spares him the arduous hunt of earlier years for the norm for the international championships.

Now he can plan his preparation for the big competitions, like the World Championships in mid-July and the European Championships in Munich in August.

"It gives me security and a good feeling," he says.

"I want to take everything I can with me."

Of course, this includes the aspired DM title defense.

Weber is currently leading the German year's best list ahead of Mannheim's Andreas Hofmann (87.32 meters) and Johannes Vetter (Offenburg, 85.64).

Thomas Röhler, the dominator of recent years, is only 72.51 meters after a long injury break.