MUNICH -- Britain's Steve Backley achieved a rare feat by winning his fourth straight European javelin title at the European championships on Friday.

A throw of 88.54 meters with his penultimate attempt enabled the 33-year-old to become just the third athlete to collect four successive crowns for the same event in the European competition.

Only fellow javelin thrower Janis Lusis of Russia and German long jumper Heike Drechsler had previously won four titles in a row, reported Reuters.

Russian Sergey Makarov took the silver medal with a first effort of 88.05 meters while German Boris Henry won bronze with an throw of 85.33 meters.

There was bitter disappointment for Czech Jan Zelezny, Backley's archrival, who was hampered by a groin injury and recorded no mark.

The triple Olympic and world champion, who beat Backley into second place at the Sydney Games two years ago, failed to capture the one title missing from his impressive resume.