Vilagos Wins Javelin Gold in Taranto
Adriana Vilagos won javelin gold with a 65.93-meter throw in the final round, while Spanovic and Mitrovic took silver and bronze in the triple jump at the Mediterranean Games.
Sixth round, last attempt, and the scoreboard in Taranto still had gold heading to Spain. Adriana Vilagos wound up, followed the javelin with her eyes as it landed in the grass, then threw her arms in the air. A throw of 65.93 meters flipped the entire javelin final at the Mediterranean Games on the last day of the athletics program, September 1.
Vilagos hadn’t led at any point before that throw. All evening the lead belonged to Spain’s Julenmi Aguilar, who hit a personal best of 65.39 meters in her round and looked to have the gold settled. Croatia’s Sara Kolak was also holding a podium spot alongside her, the same athlete with whom Vilagos had effectively split the region’s top form at the European Championships in Birmingham, where the Serbian took bronze. Through the first five rounds Vilagos had thrown 61.64, 61.26, 60.88, 58.83 and 58.56 meters, enough for a medal but not the lead. Then came the sixth.
Accounts differ on how the throw should be labeled. Telegraf calls it a Mediterranean Games record in both headline and text, and an RTS aggregation repeats that claim, while other coverage of the same competition refers to the same throw elsewhere as her season’s best. There is no official confirmation of a record at this point, but it’s not in dispute that 65.93 meters was the longest throw of the day in Taranto, and that it defended the gold Vilagos had also won at the previous Games, in Oran. The difference is in how it played out: there she led from the start, in Taranto she waited until the last attempt.
Aguilar settled for silver, Kolak took bronze with 62.64 meters. The second Serbian in the final, Marija Vucenovic, finished eighth with 57.37 meters.
Serbia Also Takes Two Medals in the Triple Jump
While Vilagos was celebrating on the javelin runway, the triple jump was being decided on the other side of the stadium, and Serbia came away with two medals there as well. Ivana Spanovic, at 36, jumped 14.09 meters for silver. Gold went to Italy’s Erika Djordji A. Saraceni with 14.21 meters, while bronze went to the second Serbian competitor, Aleksandrija Mitrovic, with 13.69 meters. From a single event, in the same hour Vilagos was throwing for gold, Serbia walked away with two more medals.
The day carried a third story too. Rower Jovana Arsic took silver in the single sculls with a time of 8:03.87. Gold went to Greece’s Evangelia Anastasiadou at 7:52.30, and third place went to Slovenia’s Nina Kostanjsek, who rowed 8:07.42.
Three medals in one day extend a run that began earlier in Taranto, when Marko Jorgic’s gold pushed Serbia’s tally to 11 medals. That number is now considerably higher, and the Games close on September 3.
What’s Next for Vilagos
The season doesn’t stop here for Vilagos. In a few days she flies to Brussels, where she has secured a spot in the Diamond League final, qualifying on a share of first place and with nothing but podium finishes behind her all season. Mid-month brings her debut at a new competition, the Ultimate Championship, where Angelina Topic will also represent Serbia.
What sets this throw apart isn’t just the number on the board. Vilagos spent the whole evening watching two rivals from behind and didn’t fold; instead, she threw farthest exactly when it mattered most, on the last attempt, with no room left for a mistake. That’s the difference between a thrower who fears the final round and one who waits for it. Brussels will show whether this is the form that carries her through the rest of the season, or just a day when everything fell into place.
