TOKYO — Johnsonburg native Michael Shuey made his Olympic debut Tuesday night, competing alongside the world’s best javelin throwers in the event’s qualifying round.

Shuey competed in ‘Group A,’ one of two preliminary groupings. His goal entering the Games, he said, was to emerge from that group and earn a spot in the championship round.

After a trio of missed throws and an apparent knee injury, however, Shuey’s Tokyo journey ended at Olympic Stadium.

Each athlete was allotted three attempts, with super-scoring rules in effect that determined championship qualification based on each’s best mark. The problem for Shuey, however, was that none of his three throws were eligible to be scored.

The Penn State alumnus finished with a “no mark” designation next to his name, preventing him from advancing beyond the preliminary round. 

He appeared to be battling a knee injury, and it was unclear whether he had sustained the injury before the Olympics or suffered the ailment on his first throw.

Shuey was in visible pain after his second throw, dropping to the track while holding his knee and yelling while his javelin soared through the air and landed short of the distance that would have been required to advance.

He was ranked 20th in the world in the event entering the competition, and was one of two athletes that represented the United States in this year’s javelin throw. Shuey had amassed world-level experience before, competing at the 2019 world championships in Qatar.

India’s Neeraj Chopra set the top mark in Group A, as his top throw soared 86.65 meters. German thrower Johannes Vetter, the top-ranked javelin thrower in the world, was not far behind at 85.64 meters, while Finland’s Lassi Etelatalo rounded out the top three at 84.5 meters.

The qualifying standard to advance to the final round had been set at 83.5 meters, a mark that only five competitors in Shuey’s group achieved. If less than 12 total athletes reached that mark, the next-best distances would qualify for the final round.

Shuey’s all-time personal best stands at 85.67 meters.

A watch party gathered at Johnsonburg Fire Hall to watch the event, which was streamed live on NBCOlympics.com and aired on the NBC family of television networks.