Hamilton javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar has won the Oda Hiroshima International Meeting with a personal best throw of 86.31m.
The distance eclipsed his previous best of 85.35m set at the Porritt Classic meeting in Hamilton in 2010 and catapults the 30-year-old into No 1 in the world rankings for 2012, 2m clear of Genki Dean from Japan and Russian Sergey Makarov. It would have ranked him sixth in the world for 2011.
Farquhar has another competition in Japan next weekend in Kawasaki, before a week of training in Brisbane. He then returns to his Hamilton base and heads to the USA and Europe for competitions in June.
The London Olympic Games javelin qualifying round is in early August.