Germany's Linda Stahl bagged the women's javelin gold with a career best throw of 66.81m. (Picture Alliance)

That Germany triumphed in the women’s javelin was no great surprise, but very few pre-competition pundits would have identified Linda Stahl as the gold medallist.

The 24-year-old launched the spear out to a stunning new personal best of 66.81m with her fifth round effort to belie her status coming as European No. 9 coming into competition.

Christina Obergfoll, the more fancied German, had to be satisfied with silver – her third major championship medal of that colour – with 65.58m. Meanwhile, there was frustration for the long-time leader Barbora Spotakova who had to settle for bronze with a best 65.36m. The Czech, who was struggling with an elbow injury, was left stunned by a double German barrage in round five to be denied the one major title missing from her mantelpiece.

To say Stahl had come from under the radar was no exaggeration. She came into Barcelona with a season’s best of 62.65m, just two wins from eight competitions this year and a third place finish at the German championships.

Yet Stahl had shown flashes of what she produced today with a previous lifetime best of 66.06 dating from 2008 and a European under-23 title in 2007.

An elated Stahl said of the victory: “It’s an unbelievable feeling. Right after my throw I didn’t even realise how far I threw in the javelin. It was not easy to throw into the wind, so I focused on not throwing too high.”

Obergfoll put a brave face on what was yet another near miss at a major championship, although she pointed to mitigating circumstances. “It is a shame for me to only get the silver medal. However, I’m happy to get any medal (as) I have suffered muscle cramp during the competition.”

Spotakova also pointed how her injury impacted on her performance, but was magnanimous in defeat.

“I had a handicap with an elbow injury, although the two medallists were better than me.”

The competition, played out under dark black clouds that threatened rain that never materialized, saw a third German, Katharina Molitor, take an early lead in the first round with 61.44m before Spotakova dealt the first major blow with an impressive 65.36m opening effort. Obergfoll registered 61.46m to move into the silver medal position.

Obergfoll offered more scope for encouragement in round two, moving significantly closer to the leader with 64.12m, and gave herself some breathing space on the chasing pack. The battle for bronze was becoming very congested. Spain’s 2006 European bronze medallist Mercedes Chilla briefly raised home hopes by moving to within 0.04 of Molitor only for a below-par Mariya Abukamova of Russia to nudge on to the bottom rung of the podium with 61.46m.

Stahl had made little impact with her two opening throws of 60.36m and 57.31m, but made her first move of significance in round three, catapulting up the leaderboard from sixth into the bronze medal position with 63.17m. Obergfoll (63.76) put in another decent effort, but knew she needed more if she was to dislodge Spotakova.

The order remained unchanged in round four and the frustration among the leaders was starting to show. Obergfoll let out a scream after the spear planted into the grass at 62.78. Spotakova simply scowled on the release of the javelin and deliberately stepped over the foul line.

If in the fourth round was uneventful, even soporific, the fifth burst into life in the most unexpected fashion.

The first hint we could be set for a change in the pattern of the competition came from Slovenia’s Martina Ratej. The European No. 3 was marooned down in eighth, but set off a huge roar around the Olympic Stadium when the spear landed around the 65m mark. However, the roars were quickly stifled as she overbalanced and committed a foul.

This appeared to spark the competition into life and it certainly inspired Stahl. She strode purposefully down the runway and unleashed the spear out to a new lifetime best of 66.81m to move into gold. She let out a huge grin, accepted the acclaim of the fans, and assumed the gold medal position.

The tenacious Obergfoll, though, was in no mood to surrender. She responded to the challenge immediately to launch the javelin out to 65.58m, her best of the day relegating Spotakova to third.

The Czech now faced an immense challenge. Sporting a bandage on a lower forearm it was uncertain how this was impacting upon her throwing. If her opposition were previously unaware of the severity of the injury we were left in no illusion after her fifth round throw. It landed at 65.09m, but the world record holder immediately clutched her elbow in what looked like some pain.

The final round was somewhat of an anti-climax. Molitor moved up to fourth with 63.81m – to make it three Germans in the top four – but there was no change to the medal picture. Neither Spotakova nor Obergfoll threatened Stahl and with the gold medal in her pocket, the champion hurled the spear out to 64.13m, her second best throw of the day.