Soaring High: Hawkeye Mike Stein is Making a Splash in the Javelin

PHOTO COURTESY MIKE STEIN

For Mike Stein, an Amazon purchase truly changed his life.

A prolific baseball player at Spirit Lake High School in northwest Iowa, Stein was watching pitching technique videos when he stumbled upon one for javelin throwing.

“I saw some clips, because there are a lot of similarities to pitching mechanics,” says Stein. “I thought, here’s a sport that’s dedicated to throwing something as hard and far as you possibly can.”

Stein figured throwing the javelin might help his pitching. “So, I bought a javelin on Amazon,” says Stein. “Everyone thought I was crazy.”

PHOTO COURTESY MIKE STEIN Mike Stein has high hopes for 2025, including Big Ten and NCAA titles.

From Prolific Pitcher to Javelin Junkie

Guided by training videos, Stein learned to throw his javelin in an open field a few blocks from his house. “I was really good at long tossing and velocity development already,” says Stein.

He continued to see improvement and decided to enter a handful of track and field meets. Because javelin is not a sanctioned high school sport in Iowa, Stein competed as an unattached competitor.

“I threw at meets at Central College and Mount Mercy University and won those, and that was enough to get recruited,” says Stein. “Soon after visiting the University of Iowa, I knew this was the place for me. I knew I was going to develop really well and throw 80 meters.”

Stein’s personal goal would be a stretch for the distances he was throwing at the time. But at the 2024 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Stein not only won with a throw of 81.19 meters, he also set a new school record. He went on to be named a first-team All-American at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Next Up? More Championships, 2028 Olympic Games

Growing up as a baseball kid in the small town of Milford, Iowa—population 3,321—Stein never imagined he would one day compete in the Olympic trials. And certainly not in the javelin.

PHOTO COURTESY MIKE STEIN Mike Stein's combined throws of 266 feet, 4 inches, at the Big Ten Championships was second best in all of Division I men's track and field for the 2024 season.

“I have always set my sights pretty high,” says Stein. “In baseball, I wanted to go to the major leagues, and now that I’m in javelin, I want to win the Olympics.”

Stein was invited to compete in the 2024 Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, and it was a learning experience for him.

“The Olympic trials didn’t go how I wanted,” says Stein, who hopes to compete—and succeed—in the 2028 Olympic trials. “I had a labrum (shoulder) injury, and my technique was not as sound as it could be.”

Inspired by the online videos that originally got him interested in javelin, Stein has posted dozens of videos and hundreds of posts focusing on his javelin-throwing technique and training regimen. His posts have become so popular that Mike Stein Throwing now has more than 17,000 followers on Instagram.

“I have always set my sights pretty high... I want to win the Olympics.” —Mike Stein

“A lot of people are getting more interested in the sport,” says Stein. “It’s unique. Plus, the flight is pretty to watch. It’s aesthetic, like artwork.”

The Iowa junior credits his Hawkeye coaches for helping him to improve and reach his goals of Big Ten and NCAA championships, as well as future Olympic Games.

“As an athlete at Iowa, I’ve gotten a lot more professional about how I go about things,” Stein says. “I was always a hard worker, but you have to be smart in training.”