World Athletics Championships: Neeraj Chopra wins India’s maiden gold medal

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won India its first-ever gold medal in the World Athletics Championships. Reuters

Neeraj Chopra scripted history yet again, winning India its first gold medal at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday.

Chopra, who won India’s maiden Olympic gold in athletics two years ago in Tokyo, finished on top in the men’s javelin throw final on Sunday with a throw of 88.17 metres in his second attempt, ending India’s four-decade wait for a maiden gold medal in the world championships since the tournament began in 1983.

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem finished second with a season-best effort of 87.82 metres while Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch won bronze with a throw of 86.67m.

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India’s Kishore Jena, who nearly did not compete in the worlds after his Hungarian visa was initially rejected, finished in the top five with a personal best effort of 84.77 metres while DP Manu was sixth with a best effort of 84.14m.

This was the first time three Indians finished in the top eight in an event in the World Championships.

In other events, the Indian team of Muhammad Anas, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh finished fifth in the men’s 4x400m relay finals with a timing of 2:59:92. This was the first time India qualified for the finals of the men’s 4x400m relay, with the quartet also smashing the Asian record that was previously held by Japan along the way.

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Distance runner Parul Chaudhary, meanwhile, finished 11th in the women’s 3000m steeplechase finals with a timing of 9:15:31 — a new national record. She had earlier become only the second Indian to qualify for the finals of the event after Lalita Babar in 2015.

The 25-year-old Chopra achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt. He had a foul to start with, but then got 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m.

Chopra’s unique feat

Chopra has now become only the second Indian — after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra — to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships title. Bindra won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25.

Chopra, who had become the first Indian Olympic track and field gold medallist in Tokyo Games in 2021, had won a silver in the 2022 edition of World Championships in Eugene, USA.

Before him, legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a bronze in the 2003 World Championships.

The Indian superstar also became only the third javelin thrower in history to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships titles after the iconic Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.

Zelezny clinched Olympics gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000 while winning World Championships title in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Thorkildsen won gold in 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships.

With his feat on Sunday, Chopra has won every title his sport has to offer. He has won gold in the Asian Games (2018) and Commonwealth Games (2018), besides four individual Diamond League Meeting titles (two each in 2022 and 2023) and Diamond League champion’s trophy last year.

He also became junior world champion in 2016 and won the Asian Championships title in 2017.

With inputs from PTI