Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra qualified for his maiden World Championships final with a stunning first attempt throw of 88.39m at the World Athletics Championships, being held in Eugene, Oregon.
The 24-year-old Indian, hot favourite for a medal, opened the men’s javelin throw Group A qualification round and sent his spear to 88.39m for his third career-best throw, here on Thursday.
The medal round will be held on Sunday (7:05am IST).
This is India's second qualification at the World's javelin event after Annu Rani secured a place in the final yesterday with a throw of 59.60 m. Rani began the qualification round in Group B on a bad note as her first throw was called out foul. But then she came back strong with a throw of 55.35 m. She saved the best for the last, making a throw of 59.60 m to enter the finals.
Those who clear 83.50m or 12 best performers across two qualification round groups qualify for the final.
Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and another Indian, Rohit Yadav will compete in Group B. Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, had competed in the 2017 London World Championships with the hope of at least making it to the finals but managed only 82.26m to fall short of the automatic qualification mark of 83m.
He had also missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha as he was recovering from an elbow surgery.
Chopra set a new national record of 89.94m, in the world of javelin throw, at the prestigious Diamond League in Stockholm last month. The 24-year-old finished second behind Grenada's Anderson Peters, who recorded a best throw of 90.31m.
(With PTI inputs)