World Athletics Championships 2023: Neeraj Chopra qualifies for men's javelin throw final

He also recorded his best throw of the season in his only attempt in qualification.

India’s poster boy Neeraj Chopra recorded a season-best throw of 88.77m to directly qualify for the finals of men’s Javelin throw at the World Athletics Championships 2023 held in Budapest, Hungary. The reigning Olympic champion breached the automatic qualification mark set at 83m and in the process also qualified for Paris Olympics 2024. The Paris Olympics qualification mark was set at 85.50m and two athletes in the qualifying rounds – Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem have crossed the mark.

Neeraj, who was last in the start list, made his mark to seal the deal in the first attempt itself. Despite the conditions not in favour for registering huge throws, the Indian came and barged straight into the final with a huge throw of 88.77m. To be more precise only four throwers from Group A have managed to throw slightly above the 80m mark.

The second-best throw was recorded by Germany’s Julian Webber at 82.39m followed by Manu DP at third. Apart from Neeraj no one achieved the automatic qualification mark in group A. Reigning World Champion Anderson Peters failed to cross the 80m mark and could only register a best throw of 78.49m and this was not enough for him to make it to the final.

From India’s point of view, DP Manu and Kishore Kumar Jena are the other two athletes to have qualified for the finals; registering best throws of 81.31m and 80.55m respectively. The top 12 athletes combining the two qualifying groups made it to the final of World Athletics Championships 2023.

Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem playing in his first international meet, qualified for the final after breaching the automatic qualification mark and registering an 86.79m throw. On the other hand, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jackub Vadlejch finished second behind Arshad Nadeem in group B with a best attempt of 83.50. Only three athletes overall breached the specified qualification mark across both Groups.

Neeraj Chopra, who suffered a minor injury this season, missed out on couple of tournaments in June but made a strong come back at the Lausanne Diamond League by winning the event with a best throw of 87.66m. A month back, Neeraj also won the Doha Diamond League with a best throw of 88.67m (World Lead then).

The final is scheduled to be held on July 27 (Sunday) and Neeraj Chopra will go for the kill in upgrading his medal colour from silver to gold and ultimately become the World Champion at World Athletics Championships 2023.

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