Vancouver’s Kara Winger captures silver medal at worlds on last throw of her career

EUGENE, Ore. — Kara Winger did it again.

Like she did a month ago at the U.S. championships at Heyward Field, the Skyview High graduate saved her best for last, unleashing a throw of 64.05 meters to capturethe silver medal in the women’s javelin at the World track and field championships on Friday night.

Winger first came up with the plan to retire from pro competition at the worlds in Eugene three years ago, but those plans got pushed back one year by the pandemic.

Winger made sure it was well worth the wait on Friday.

“I have dreamed about these championships for a long time,” Winger told NBC Sports. “My inspiration for retirement at Hayward Field was Steffi Nerius of Germany winning the 2009 Berlin World Championships the year she announced her retirement. So knew I was going to have a home crowd, I thought what better way to go out than maybe grabbing a medal at my home field.”

Winger sat in fifth place at 62.17 going into her final throw of the competition. But like she did at nationals when she threw a season-best 64.26 on her final throw, Winger again broke the 64-meter barrier on her last throw.

“I grew up two hours north, and I loved the crowd today,” Winger said. “They were phenomenal. I had to slow their clap down a little bit, but it worked for me every single time.”

Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia won the competition with a mark of 66.91. Haruka Kitaguchi took the bronze at 63.27.

Winger, then Kara Patterson, is a 2004 graduate of Skyview High School where she won three high school state titles in the javelin.

She would go on to a pro career spanning nearly 15 years that included nine U.S. championships and four Olympic games. And in her final competition, and the final throw of her professional career, Winger became the first U.S. women to medal in the javelin at the world championships.

“It was amazing, amazing, amazing,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”