Budapest, August 25th – On Friday, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra delivered his fourth best performance of his career with a throw of 88.77 meters here at the Men’s Javelin Throw Final of the World Championship. This performance secured his qualification for the 2024 Paris Games with just one big throw needed.
#IND's🇮🇳 Neeraj Chopra qualifies for Paris Olympics 2024 and World Athletics Championship 2023 FINAL with a throw of 88.77m in his first attempt💪#WorldAthleticsChamps #Budapest2023 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/zayUncsRFG
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) August 25, 2023
The qualifying mark for the 2024 Paris Olympics is 85.50 meters, and the qualifying window started on July 1st. Chopra’s qualifying round lasted only a few minutes as he sent his javelin to his season’s best distance on his first attempt. He secured the top spot in Group A qualifications.
Having comfortably secured the mark for the automatic qualification at 83 meters, Chopra, whose personal best is 89.94 meters, wrapped up his gear and chose not to make any further throws, leaving the competition field without another attempt.
Competing in the same group as Chopra, Deepak Manu claimed the third spot with his best throw of 81.31 meters, achieved on his second attempt. He will have to wait for Group B qualification round, scheduled a bit later, to determine whether he secures a spot for the final on Sunday.
Another Indian contender, Jena, will compete in Group B.
Those who throw 83 meters or perform among the top 12 from both Group A and B qualify for the final. Each competitor gets three attempts in the qualifying round.
Germany’s Julian Weber secured the second spot with a best throw of 82.39 meters.
Current champion Grenada’s Anderson Peters, struggling for form this season, stood seventh with his best throw of 78.49 meters.
Julius Yego of Kenya, the 2015 World Championship gold medalist, took the eighth position with a throw of 78.42 meters.
Friday’s qualification round campaign by Chopra recalls his performance during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics competition in the same phase. Even then, he needed just one throw of 86.65 meters to qualify for the final. At that time, the automatic qualifying mark was 83.50 meters.
Later, with a throw of 87.58 meters in the final, he made history by taking home the gold medal.