Hammer blow for Norris as Tokyo bid falls short in qualifying round

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Hammer thrower Jake Norris bowed out in the qualifying round at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo but has vowed to solve his competition woes in the off-season.

The talented 26-year-old from Ascot showed what he could do last year with a personal best throw of 77.37 metres but in 2025, his performances have been very up and down.

He arrived in Japan hoping to throw further than 73.07m, good enough for 25th overall, and will now look at why he has been so inconsistent from competition to competition.

He said: “I’m still happy about how I’ve done. I didn’t do completely awful.

“I’ll have a proper watch through it when I get back but overall, it’s closer than many of the comps I’ve had this year. It’s been a tough year, a lot of things I haven’t been used to. Today was still a different experience to what I’ve had before, the humidity sucks!

“I wasn’t doing anything and sweating loads.

“I’ll learn from it, I’ll move forward but I’m not completely devastated about how I’ve done.”

A high-quality competition left Norris needing to get close to his best to make it through, with the last of the 12 qualifiers throwing 75.91m to make it into Tuesday’s final.

He could not quite do so, with his best throw coming at his first attempt before failing to improve.

Next up is a well-deserved break to recover from the season before turning his attentions to making it to the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships in 2026.

And he is hopeful that the plans are already being put into place to ensure he heads to those events in better shape.

He added: “We’ve already got some ideas on how to help with that. I’ve got a little break now and we’ll start implementing those things when I’m back in training.

“Nine people got the automatic qualifier, it doesn’t leave much space for anyone else. That was in the back of my mind when I went into the circle, I had to pretty much season’s best to get to the final.

“It’s something to learn from and hopefully I’m more comfy with how the season has gone going into it next year.”

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