Sri Lanka's Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (AP Photo)

Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage capped a remarkable 2026 season by becoming the first athlete from his country to win the men’s javelin throw title at the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Saturday.Making his debut at the prestigious season-ending event, the 23-year-old produced a winning throw of 89.04m in the third round at the King Baudouin Stadium. The effort came after a relatively quiet start but proved enough to secure the title.“I’m truly very happy about that,” Rumesh said. “Coming from a small country like Sri Lanka, winning a major meet like this.”Pathirage opened the competition with throws of 80.42m and 79.73m, falling well short of the distances he had regularly produced throughout the season. Trinidad and Tobago’s former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott initially took charge with 83.99m, before Poland’s Dawid Wegner produced a huge personal best of 87.47m in the third round to move into first place.Pathirage responded later in the same round.His 89.04m effort immediately restored him to the top of the standings and ultimately proved decisive.The Sri Lankan followed his winning throw with efforts of 85.96m and 85.76m before fouling his final attempt. Wegner could not better his third-round mark, leaving Pathirage with a winning margin of 1.57m.

Pathirage overcomes difficult conditions

Pathirage admitted that the conditions in Brussels made it difficult to reproduce the enormous distances he had been achieving during the season.“Honestly, I couldn’t get a big throw today because the weather conditions were quite difficult - it was very cold... so that’s why I couldn’t reach a big distance,” he explained.Wegner took silver with his 87.47m personal best, while Walcott completed the podium with his season-best 83.99m.Grenada’s two-time world champion Anderson Peters finished fourth with 83.70m. Peters moved close to Walcott with his fifth-round throw, but the latter held on to third by just 29cm.Kenya’s former world champion Julius Yego finished fifth with 76.79m, followed by Belgium’s Timothy Herman on 71.79m and American Curtis Thompson on 69.52m.

Second major title of breakthrough season

The Diamond League crown is Pathirage’s second major title of the season after he won Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow, finishing ahead of India’s former Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.His triumph in Brussels also capped an extraordinary Diamond League campaign.Pathirage won four meetings during the season and finished runner-up in another. His victories came in Rome, Doha, Lausanne and Zurich, while he finished second at the Silesia Diamond League.His biggest performance came in Rome in June, where he produced a Sri Lankan national record and world-leading throw of 92.62m.He subsequently won in Doha with 88.68m and Lausanne with 88.14m before ending his Diamond League regular-season campaign with another massive effort of 92.07m in Zurich.Pathirage has therefore become the only javelin thrower to cross the 92m mark twice this season. He also owns eight of the top 10 throws in the world in 2026 and currently sits at No. 1 in the world rankings.

Neeraj Chopra absence adds intrigue to Asian Games

Pathirage’s historic Diamond League triumph comes just days before the Asian Games, where he will have another major challenge ahead.India’s Neeraj Chopra has withdrawn from the Asian Games after being ruled out with injury, leaving Pathirage set to face Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yashvir Singh and prominent Indian thrower Rohit Yadav.The men’s javelin qualification is scheduled for September 26, with the final set for September 28.With the Asian Games and the World Ultimate Athletics title still to come, Pathirage now has the chance to add further silverware to what has already been one of the most dominant seasons of his young career.