The penultimate step of the javelin approach: flat and fast forward, torso deliberately leaning back. It carries run-up momentum into the throwing position.
A javelin run-up moves at maybe 20 km/h, roughly recreational jogging pace — and yet the javelin leaves the hand at 28 to 30 metres per second, over 100 km/h. Most of that gap is created not in the run itself but in the last two steps before release. The cross step is the fourth step of the five-step rhythm: flat and fast forward while the torso stays deliberately leaned back. That's where the most common fault lives — stand up during it and you give away the whip effect before your arm has even started. Film yourself from the side and check exactly one thing: does the lean-back hold until the block leg lands? On contact, that block leg absorbs six to eight times your body weight and redirects horizontal momentum upward into the throw. Expect the rhythm to feel like stumbling for weeks; that part is normal.