Srinagar: Olympic champion India’s Neeraj Chopra on Friday qualified for the final of mens Javelin at World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon, with a throw of 88.39m.
Chopra move to the final attaining an automatic qualification as he breached the 83.50m mark with ease in his first attempt.
Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic too joined him in the list with his first-attempt throw of 85.23m.
This is Chopra’s third best throw in an event this year. Last month, he broke his national record twice with the latest being a 89.94m long throw at the Stockholm Diamond League meet.
It is not often that an Indian athlete starts a global competition as a serious contender. Long jumper Anju Bobby George’s bronze in 2003 Paris is India’s only medal in the competition, and Chopra looks to join that list 19 years later, hoping to better the colour of the medal. A win in Oregon will mean Chopra will become the first men’s javelin thrower to follow Olympic success with a world title since Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen.
This is India’s second qualification at the World’s javelin event after Annu Rani had secured a place in the final yesterday. Rani began the qualification round in Group B on a bad note with a foul. But then she came up with a throw of 55.35 m later. She saved the best for the last, making a throw of 59.60 m to make it to the final.