Jade Maraval shook up the women’s javelin with an early season world lead of 60.02m in the fourth round to take the gold ahead of Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos and Greece’s Elina Tzengko at the 2026 European Throwing Cup in Nicosia on Saturday (14).
The 23-year-old’s javelin soared over the 60 metre-line for the first time to improve her PB by more than a metre in the fourth round, also becoming just the sixth Frenchwoman to surpass the 60 metre-mark.
Maraval screamed with joy before leaping into celebrations with her coach and teammates who shared her excitement to win the first medal for France of the competition.
She continued to beam from ear to ear continuously from her magical moment until she stood atop of the podium with the French anthem La Marseillaise playing in her honour.
This win could also be a turning point for Maraval as she transitions to the global senior stage, with eyes pointing towards the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships.
"I'm very proud of this achievement; however, I know there is still work to be done. There are technical aspects that I need to continue refining in order to keep improving and, hopefully, secure qualification for the European Championships in Birmingham this summer," said Maraval.
Her performance bumped the favourite and defending champion, Vilagos, into second place with a best throw of 59.94m, her lowest distance at this competition in the last two years.
But the other surprise was that Greece’s Elina Tzengko, the 2022 European champion, didn’t make the podium. She threw 58.21m to open her season and finish fourth.
She was out-thrown by Italy’s Paola Padovan who has swiftly continued her good form from last season to throw a PB of 58.69m and take the bronze medal.
What was set to be a battle between Vilagos and Tzengko proved to be the uprising of the underdog with Maraval, who was ranked seventh on PBs coming into the weekend, performed her best when she needed to take the glory.
There was also a significant national record for Montenegro’s Marija Bogavac who threw 56.32m in the second round to improve her PB, which dated all the way back to 2016 when she was still a teenager, by more than one-and-a-half metres.