On the last day of the World Athletics Championship, golden boy of India Neeraj Chopra solidified his dominance in the men’s javelin throw event by becoming first Indian to win gold in the World Championship with a big throw of 88.17m held in Budapest, Hungary. Neeraj’s remarkable achievement unfolded in the early hours of August 28 as he went head-to-head with competitors from around the world.
Other two Indians, Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu claimed fifth and sixth spots respectively, confirming all three Indians finishing top eight in the javelin throw finals. Never before have three Indians finished top eight of an event in the World Championships.
The 25-year-old Neeraj Chopra achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt. He had a foul to start with, but then got 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m, and 83.89m. Pakistan’s reigning Commonwealth Champion Ashraf Nadeem took the silver with his season’s best throw of 87.82m, while his Jakub Vadlejech of Czech Republic got the Bronze.
Chopra has now become only the second Indian- after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra- to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championship titles. Chopra, who had become the first Indian Olympic track and field gold medalist in Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had won a silver in the 2022 edition of World Championship.
