Swara Garge, Pune
On August 25, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra completed his first attempt javelin throw in Budapest. With an 88.77m throw, he earned his spot in the men’s javelin throw final of the World Championships and the 2024 Paris Games. Along with securing his automatic entry to the finals, the throw was also recorded as his fourth-best performance.
The qualifying mark for the 2024 Paris Olympics javelin throw is set at 85.50m. The qualification window for the same began on July 1. Within minutes Chopra concluded his qualifying round with his season’s best distance in the first attempt. Julian Webber of Germany was the only other competitor in the qualification set A to surpass 80 meters in the opening round of throws. None of the other 15 athletes in the same set could achieve automatic qualification, not even after three tries.
Neeraj qualified for the World Athletic Championship and Paris Olympics 2024 while topping the Group A chart. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (86.79m) and Jakub Vadlejch (83.50m), were the only two competitors to qualify directly from Group (B). Another Indian Athlete Kishore Jena finished fifth in Group B while DP Manu grabbed the third spot in Chopra’s group behind Webber. In the overall ranking, Manu and Jena secured sixth and ninth rank respectively.
Participants at the event faced some trouble because of the heaviness of the air. Wind blowing from the opposite end made it difficult for the athletes to achieve greater distance. However, it had little to no impact on Neeraj’s performance as he showcased his season’s best.