Neeraj Chopra finishes lowly 8th, Pakistan's Olympic champion Nadeem ends up 10th in World Athletics final
Both Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem were in the bottom half of the competitors list after the first two rounds of the men’s javelin throw final of World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Both Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem were in the bottom half of the competitors list after the first two rounds of the men’s javelin throw final of World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Both Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem were in the bottom half of the competitors list after the first two rounds of the men’s javelin throw final of World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The super-consistent Neeraj Chopra faltered for once, not just failing to finish on the podium in men's Javelin Throw, but falling as low as eighth in the World Athletics Championships final in Tokyo on Thursday.
India's two-time Olympic medallist needed just one throw of 84.85 metres to qualify for the final on Wednesday, but today he couldn't breach that mark across six attempts. Chopra returned average throws of 83.65, 84.03 and 82.86 metres, while fouling two other throws to surrender his World Athletics title.
It wasn't just Chopra who was off-colour; even Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and Germany's Julian Weber couldn't live up to the expectations. Nadeem, who threw a massive 92.97 m to strike gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics, pushing Chopra to the silver-medal position (89.45 m), was surprisingly poor, producing a best of 82.75 m to end up 10th in the list of 12 competitors. Weber was fifth in the final list, with a best throw of 86.11 m.
Surprisingly, India's Sachin Yadav came up with a personal best of 86.27 m in his first attempt. Though a handful of throwers went past him, Yadav finished a creditable fourth.
Trinbagonian Keshorn Walcott was the surprise package, producing a season's best of 88.16 m for gold. His second-best effort of 87.83 m was also good enough for the first place.
Grenada's former World Champion Anderson Peters (86.26 m) and USA's Curtis Thompson (86.67 m) settled for silver and bronze respectively.
Chopra famously breached the 90-metre mark (90.23 m) in the Doha Diamond League in May and hit 88.16 m to be placed first in the Paris Diamond League earlier this year.