Kenya's javelin legend Julius Yego through to finals in Paris Olympics

Former world champion Julius Yego secured a spot in the javelin final at the ongoing Paris Olympics with a massive throw of 85.97m during the qualifiers.

The African javelin champion, who is commonly known as the 'YouTube man' finished second in the Group 'A' qualifiers, behind German Webber Julian, who threw 87.76m.

Vadlejch Jakub of the Czech Republic finished third with an 85.63m throw in the leading pack of seven automatic finalists.

The heavily built police officer has Kenyan medal hopes in the field event lying on his shoulders and will be hoping to be at his best in the finals.

In Group B, India's Chopra Neeraj qualified for the finals with an 89.34 metres throw and was followed by Peters Anderson of Greneda and Pakistan's Nadeem Arshad in that order.

The six join the athletes who reached the qualification threshold of 84m, or at least 12 best performers in the final.

Yego, the former Team Kenya Olympics captain, punched the air in jubilation to loud applause from the fans at the Stade de France.

Yego will be seeking to make amends after failing to register a legal throw in the first two attempts in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan.

The javelin legend won the gold medal with a throw of 92.72m at the 2015 World Championships, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World Championships gold medal in a field event. 

He won silver in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Yego is ranked 15th in the world with a personal best of 92.72m posted during the Beijing 2015 world championships.

He finished second at the  African Games in Accra Ghana with a throw of 81.74m in March.