Haruka Kitaguchi sat alone in a chair, wiping away tears and trying to process what had just happened. She was technically still alive in the women’s javelin throw competition, but she knew elimination was creeping closer with every second.
There would be no repeat of her world title in Budapest in 2023 or a place on the podium. Only a lonely spot on a folding chair in the bowels of Tokyo’s National Stadium.
Kitaguchi, the reigning world and Olympic champion, failed to make it out of the qualifying round at the World Athletics Championships on Friday night — a surprisingly early exit for the athlete who was the biggest star of Team Japan in the buildup to the event.
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