India’s javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra created history by throwing a throw of 88.17m in the final of the javelin event at the World Athletics Championships. He became the first player to win gold in the championship.
World Athletics Championships: Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra on Sunday scripted history by winning gold in the javelin throw event of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, becoming the first Indian athlete to achieve the feat. Neeraj Chopra, who had settled for a silver medal last season, won the gold medal in the final with a throw of 88.17 in his second attempt. Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan won the silver medal. Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Neeraj shot a personal best throw of 88.17m in his second attempt to claim the top spot. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem won the silver with a best throw of 87.82m and Yakub Walesh of the Czech Republic won the bronze with a best throw of 86.67m. India’s Kishor Jena finished fifth with a personal best throw of 84.77m. D P Manu finished sixth with a best throw of 84. Was of 14 meters.
Equals Abhinav Bindra
This is the first time in the World Championship that there have been three Indians in the top eight. The 25-year-old Chopra produced his best throw of the day in the second after his first attempt was fouled. After this he had 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83. Throws 98 meters. Chopra became the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win the Olympics and the World Championship at the same time. Bindra won the world championship at the age of 23 and Olympic gold at the age of 25.
Third javelin thrower to win Olympic and world title
Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal in athletics at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. He had won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene. Before her, Anju Bobby George had won a bronze medal in the long jump at the Paris World Championships in 2003. He became the third javelin thrower to win the Olympic and world titles at the same time. Before him Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas T of Norway have done this feat. Zelezny won Olympic titles in 1992, 1996 and 2000, while winning the world championships in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Andreas won the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships.
Now Chopra has all the titles in his name. He won the Asian Games (2018), Commonwealth Games (2018) gold besides four Diamond League titles and the Diamond League champions trophy last year. He was the Junior World Champion in 2016 and won the Asian Championship title in 2017.
Indian javelin thrower Neeraj had qualified for the javelin final with a throw of 88.77m in the qualification round of this championship on Friday, 25 August. Along with this, he also booked the ticket for next year’s Paris Olympics 2024. Chopra’s personal best throw is 89.94m, which he threw at the Stockholm Diamond League on 30 June 2022.
88.17 Meters for 🥇
Neeraj Chopra becomes 1st 🇮🇳 athlete to win a gold medal at the #WorldAthleticsChampionships 😍
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The 25-year-old Neeraj Chopra has won gold medals at the Olympics (Tokyo in 2020), the Asian Games (2018) and the Commonwealth Games (2018), besides becoming the Diamond League champion last year.
Neeraj Chopra’s records in major competitions
- Tokyo Olympic Games (2020) – Gold Medal (87.58m)
- World Championships (Budapest 2023) – Gold Medal (88.17m)
- Asian Games (Jakarta 2018) – Gold Medal (88.06m)
- Diamond League (Stockholm2022) – 2nd place (89.94m)
- Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast 2018) – Gold Medal (86.47m)
- World Championships (Oregon 2022) – 2nd position, Silver medal (88.39m)
- Asian Championship (Bhubaneshwar (2017)) – Gold Medal (85.23m)
- World Under-20 Championships (Bydgoszcz 2016) – Gold Medal (86.48m)
- Asian Junior Championships (Ho Chi Minh 2016) – Silver Medal (77.60m)
- South Asian Games (Guwahati 2016) – Gold Medal (82.23m)
