Neeraj Chopra, India's star javelin thrower, made the nation proud yet again as he bagged the gold medal at the Men's Javelin Throw Final of the World Atheltics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday (August 27). While his season-best throw of 88.77m in the first attempt of his qualifying round was enough to aid him seal a place in the final, it also secured him a place in the Paris 2024 Olympics. At the final on Sunday, Chopra's javelin flew 88.17m to help India bag its maiden medal at the Championships and an unprecented gold medal in the history of the competition.
Prior to this, Anju Bobby George's bronze and Chopra's silver were the only other medals to have been clinched at the World Athletics Championships. While DP Manu and Kishore Jena were also in contention of a medal in the Men's Javelin throw final, they failed to add to the medals tally. However, in a major positive for India, three men in the top six in the final of the men's javelin throw were from the country with Jena taking the fifth place (84.77m) and Manu placing sixth (84.14m).
Neeraj who usually likes to put pressure on his opponents with a solid throw in his first attempt failed to do so in the final and started with a foul start to begin with. However, in the second attempt, Chopra was back to his consistent best with an attempt of 88.17m, enough to put him in the pole position which he maintained till the end. The 25-year-old recorded a throw of 86.32 in his third attempt.
Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem bagged the silver medal with a best attempt of 87.82 metres while Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch claimed the bronze medal with a best throw of 86.67m. European champion Julian Weber, who was in the third place for a long time, finished just outside of the medals with a best of 85.79m.