American Kara Winger launched her sixth throw of 64.05m to take silver while Haruka Kitaguchi also pulled out a superb final 63.27m to become the first Japanese woman to win a javelin medal in a World Championships or Olympics.
China's Liu Shiying (63.25m) and Australian Mackenzie Little, who threw a personal best 63.22m, were left empty-handed after sitting in medal positions after five rounds. Nobody, however, threatened Barber, who joins 400m runner Cathy Freeman as the only Australians to retain a world title having taken gold with a last-round throw in 2019. "I am just really soaking up the moment, it was a world of emotions," she said. "It's always the goal to peak at the right moment and today was always the goal. "I always believed I had the capacity to go back-to-back. I am cementing my place as one of the world's best javelin throwers and I want to keeping building on that." Winger thanked her husband, who is now her coach. "It is what I dreamed about but I am still it disbelief that it actually happened," she said. "I have always been a stubborn wife and not listened to his good ideas until this year, when he was my coach. "I knew he was going to support me no matter what but I am so happy to make him proud." Kitaguchi, who trains in the Czech Republic, which has a rich heritage in the event, was in the medal positions early on but slipped back, only to come good at the end. "The first for Japan so I made the history," she said. "Now, it is a bronze but it's not over. My goal had been to make the top eight in the final but now I will be working harder and harder to win gold next time."
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