Commonwealth Games 2022: Kelsey-Lee Barber wins javelin gold with desperate last throw

She was pushed all the way by compatriot Mackenzie Little but when the pressure is at its greatest, world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber produced her best.

Mackenzie Little and Kelsey-Lee Barber.

Kelsee-Lee Barber has done it again, waiting until her final throw to claim the Commonwealth Games javelin gold medal.

It is the third time in her career that Barber has delivered at the very last moment, this time throwing 64.43m to overhaul her teammate Mackenzie Little by 16cm.

In 2019 at the Doha world championships she won her first world title with the last throw of the competition and at the Tokyo Olympics she surged into the bronze medal position with her last throw.

Adding to her performance in Birmingham was the fact she has spent most of the past week in isolation after catching Covid when she arrived at Australia’s team camp in Tonbridge.

Kelsey-Lee Barber has won gold with her last throw of the competition. Piture: David Ramos/Getty Images

“I didn’t think about the fact I have done it before but more about the fact it is one more opportunity,” Barber said. “The comp is not over until I have had this throw and I find that really settling.

“I am not going to lie, it is really nice to know I have the confidence, I can keep lifting through a competition and I can find something in that last round.

“It’s a nice card to have going into competitions; it keeps the competition alive. There is no rest in any of the rounds.”

On her Covid scare, Barber said: “That just threw a bit of a spanner in the preparations, we already didn’t know how that was going to look backing up (from worlds) but I think there were a few days I did start feeling nervous and I was unsure how it was going to play out.

“But I just thought don’t worry about the few days of training I may have missed this week because the body is still good, the feel is still good and the confidence is there. I just came out here and I really went after it.”

Kelsey-Lee Barber has followed world championship gold with Commonwealth gold. Picture David Ramos/Getty Images

Barber, 29, wrote her name into the history books last month when she became the first woman to win back-to-back world titles in Eugene, Oregon.

Little seemed destined to win her first major title after again showing her penchant for delivering big at the start of competitions.

The former NCAA champion opened up the final with a personal best of 64.03m.

It was exactly the same thing she’d done in Eugene, launching a personal best 63.22m with her first throw before slipping down to fifth as Barber and others passed her.

But when Little, 25, threw another career best, 64.27m, with her second-last throw the title was at her fingertips.

Australia's Mackenzie Little threw two peronal bests at the Commonwealth Games. Picture: Ben Stansall / AFP

Enter Australia’s greatest clutch performer.

Barber got the crowd clapping behind her and then calmly did what she does best, delivering when the pressure is at its highest.

She had revealed in the lead-up to the final that she was still testing positive to Covid when she arrived in Birmingham.

A Commonwealth gold medal was missing from her career CV given four years ago on the Gold Coast she had to settle for second behind her Australian teammate Kathryn Mitchell.

Originally published as Commonwealth Games 2022: Kelsey-Lee Barber wins javelin gold with desperate last throw