# 1987 World Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw

These are the official results of the Women's Javelin Throw event at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Italy. There were a total of 31 participating athletes, with the final held on Sunday 6 September 1987. All results were made with a rough surfaced javelin (old design).
The winning margin was 4.88 metres which as of 2024 remains the only time the women's javelin throw has been won by more than four metres at these championships, although in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics the winning margins in the women's javelin throw were 5.71 metres and 5.29 metres respectively.

## Medalists

| Gold | Fatima Whitbread Great Britain (GBR) |
| Silver | Petra Felke East Germany (GDR) |
| Bronze | Beate Peters West Germany (FRG) |

## Schedule

* All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
Qualification Round :
| Group A | Group B |
| 05.09.1987 – ??:??h | 05.09.1987 – ??:??h |
| Final Round ||
| 06.09.1987 – 17:30h ||

## Abbreviations

* All results shown are in metres
| Q | automatic qualification |
| q | qualification by rank |
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| WR | world record |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 1987 World Athletics Championships :
| World Record | Petra Felke (GDR) | 78.90 m | July 29, 1987 | Leipzig, East Germany |
| Event Record | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 70.82 m | August 13, 1983 | Helsinki, Finland |
| Season Best | Petra Felke (GDR) | 78.90 m | July 29, 1987 | Leipzig, East Germany |

## Qualification

* Held on Saturday 1987-09-05
| RANK | GROUP A | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Petra Felke (GDR) | 69.16 m |
| 2. | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | 66.46 m |
| 3. | Beate Peters (FRG) | 64.26 m |
| 4. | Irina Kostyuchenkova (URS) | 63.04 m |
| 5. | Katalin Hartai (HUN) | 62.68 m |
| 6. | Natalya Kolenchukova (URS) | 60.78 m |
| 7. | Anna Verouli (GRE) | 60.60 m |
| 8. | Zhou Yuanxiang (CHN) | 59.46 m |
| 9. | Elisabet Nagy (SWE) | 58.72 m |
| 10. | María Caridad Colón (CUB) | 57.82 m |
| 11. | Emi Matsui (JPN) | 57.78 m |
| 12. | Denise Thiémard (SUI) | 56.34 m |
| 13. | Sueli dos Santos (BRA) | 55.48 m |
| 14. | Marieta Riera (VEN) | 53.38 m |
| 15. | Lee Hui-cheng (TPE) | 51.42 m |
| 16. | Mereoni Vibose (FIJ) | 48.60 m |
| RANK | GROUP B | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | 67.00 m |
| 2. | Ingrid Thyssen (FRG) | 64.52 m |
| 3. | Ivonne Leal (CUB) | 62.60 m |
| 4. | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 62.34 m |
| 5. | Susanne Jung (GDR) | 62.26 m |
| 6. | Manuela Alizadeh (FRG) | 62.16 m |
| 7. | Natalya Shikolenko (URS) | 60.40 m |
| 8. | Céline Chartrand (CAN) | 59.06 m |
| 9. | Tuula Laaksalo (FIN) | 57.24 m |
| 10. | Li Baolian (CHN) | 55.96 m |
| 11. | Trine Solberg (NOR) | 55.30 m |
| 12. | Cathie Wilson (USA) | 54.80 m |
| 13. | Íris Grönfeldt (ISL) | 54.00 m |
| 14. | Iammo Launa (PNG) | 42.70 m |
| — | Laverne Eve (BAH) | NM |

## Final

| Rank | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance | Note |
| Rank | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance | Note |
| | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | | | | | | | 76.64 m | CR |
| | Petra Felke (GDR) | | | | | | | 71.76 m | |
| | Beate Peters (FRG) | | | | | | | 68.82 m | |
| 4 | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | | | | | | | 67.54 m | |
| 5 | Susanne Jung (GDR) | | | | | | | 67.46 m | |
| 6 | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | | | | | | | 66.82 m | |
| 7 | Natalya Kolenchukova (URS) | | | | | | | 65.52 m | |
| 8 | Ivonne Leal (CUB) | | | | | | | 64.90 m | |
| 9 | Ingrid Thyssen (FRG) | | | | | | | 64.12 m | |
| 10 | Manuela Alizadeh (FRG) | | | | | | | 63.40 m | |
| 11 | Katalin Hartai (HUN) | | | | | | | 60.88 m | |
| 12 | Irina Kostyuchenkova (URS) | | | | | | | 60.60 m | |