Barrios Advances to Women’s Javelin Final at World Championship
9/19/2025 10:00:00 AM | Track & Field
The 2025 NCAA National Champion is set to compete for the world title on Saturday morning.
Mizzou track and field's Valentina Barrios advanced to the women's javelin finals at the World Athletics Championship, the most prestigious competition in track and field outside of the Olympic Games, on Friday morning at Japan National Stadium in Tokyo.
Barrios, the 2025 NCAA women's javelin national champion, qualified for the final with a throw of 60.98m (200-0) on her third attempt. She edged out Momone Ueda, the Asian Championship silver medalist, and Kitaguchi Haruka, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the event. The senior is the second-youngest individual to advance to the final at 21 years and 261 days old, just 30 days older than Adrianna Vilagoš, the youngest competitor in the field.
Barrios is set to compete for the world championship on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 5 a.m. CT, with live stream coverage provided by Peacock.
"I'm really proud of Valentina," head coach Brett Halter said. "She bounced back after a slow start, managed her emotions and delivered the second-longest throw of her career to advance to the World Championship final. To reach this stage as a collegiate athlete is a massive accomplishment, and today she proved she can compete with the best on any given day."
Barrios punched her ticket with her record-breaking javelin performance at the U23 Pan American Games at Estadio de Atletismo on August 20. The 2025 NCAA champion's first-place result of 60.16m (197-4) set the competition record and marked the second-best javelin throw of her career. The senior is representing her home country of Colombia.
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