New Delhi: Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra qualified for the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Thursday.
The 24-year-old qualified for the final with a stunning first attempt throw of 88.39m. It should be noted that the final qualifying mark was 83.50m.
Chopra, who competed in Group A of the qualification round, will now compete for Gold on Sunday.
Meanwhile, India’s Rohit Yadav, who has the best throw of 80.42m and is ranked 12 has also qualified.
In another instance, triple-jumper Eldhose Pual qualified for the final of his event with a best jump of 16.68m.
Anderson Peters of Grenera, the former champion, topped the qualifying charts in men’s javelin with a throw of 89.91m, while Chopra’s attempt places him second. The other two qualifiers were Germany’s Julian Webber (87.28m) and the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (85.23m), the silver medalist at the Tokyo Games.
In the triple jump, Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Pedro Pichardo led the qualifier with a leap of 17.16m, followed by Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso (17.15m) and Emanuel Ihemeje of Italy (17.13m).