German teenage talent Hussong gets IAAF Rising Star award

Germany’s prodigious teenage javelin thrower Christin Hussong, who broke the championships record three times en route to getting the gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships in July, picked up the IAAF Rising Star award at the 2011 World Athletics Gala in Monaco on Saturday.

At the Championships in Lille four months ago, the 17-year-old put together the best series of her young career, eventually adding almost three metres to the championship record.

Hussong opened with 56.54m, just shy of her personal best of 56.76m she had thrown in the qualifying round but still a distance that would have sufficed for victory. In the final three rounds she improved successively to 57.84m, 58.09m and then a massive 59.74m.

She finished more than five metres in front of the Swedish silver medallist Sofi Flinck.

Source: European Athletics