Tokyo 2020, men’s javelin throw: Ahead of Neeraj Chopra’s final, a look at his competition

On the final day, final event of competition for Indian contingent at Tokyo Olympics, all eyes will be on javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra – touted as one of India’s strongest medal chances.

It feels fitting that Chopra will draw the curtains on India’s Olympic campaign. The 23-year-old has steadily become of India’s best athletes in the last few years and there are hopes that he can end the wait for an elusive Olympic medal in track and field. This hope is not unfounded, but instead based on his consistent performance and improving numbers. The fact that some of the main competitors fell by the wayside during qualification will only add to the expectations.

(The final starts at 1630 IST on Saturday)

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Indeed, this season Chopra has the second best throw of all the finalists in the field, behind only the red-hot favourite Johannes Vetter, the German who has been throwing 90-plus for fun.

As per World Athletics, “Vetter is the only man in the world to have thrown beyond 90 metres in the past 24 months. In fact, he has done so 18 times – including a record streak of seven competitions between April and June this year. The 2017 world champion from Germany even threatened the world record last year, throwing 97.76m in Silesia to move to second on the world all-time list.”

But the overwhelming favourite did not have the best of qualification rounds where, of course, it doesn’t matter where one finishes as long as a place in final is confirmed.

Despite reduced competition and being stuck in India during lockdown, Chopra has reached best of 88.07 in 2021 – an effort that would have put him in the medals at the last Olympics. Among the finalists, that is the second best this year.

Archive: Neeraj Chopra on the lack of competition before Olympics

While SB is a decent indication of form, there are athletes in the list who have hit 88 and 89 in their careers and javelin has the tendency to throw up plenty of surprises on the night of the final. The likes of Julian Weber and Czech Republic’s Vitezslav Vesely, Jakub Vadlechj have gone 88-plus in their careers. The latter will have world record holder Jan Zelezny in their coaching corner as well.

Another cause for India’s hopes to go stronger is the field in the javelin throw at Tokyo, or rather who is not in the field.

Due to a combination of factors – the heat in Tokyo being a crucial one, as well as the timing of the qualification Group B – the final will be missing many prominent names who have had among the best numbers this season. The qualification was held in the morning and the sweltering conditions in Tokyo played its part. London 2012 champion Keshorn Walcott, Doha 2019 World Champion Anderson Peters and Polish record holder Marcin Krukowski will be absent.

Where do the finalists stand

In the tables below, courtesy World Athletics, we will see the results in 2021 for the athletes who have a best of 85-plus in 2021.

Meet Arshad Nadeem, the Pakistan athlete looking to make a mark:

Arshad Nadeem once dreamed of becoming a star cricketer, but after switching to athletics he has the opportunity to grab Pakistan’s first individual Olympic medal in more than 30 years. Since its first Olympics in London in 1948, Pakistan have won three gold, three silver and two bronze medals in field hockey.

The bronzes won by wrestler Mohammad Bashir in Rome in 1960 and boxer Hussain Shah in Seoul in 1988 are Pakistan’s only individual Olympic medals.

But among the finalists, Nadeem has the fourth-best javelin throw of the year – a personal best 86.38 metres achieved in April in Iran. The strapping 24-year-old, who ditched cricket for athletics as a teenager, already has a taste for gold, having stood atop the podium at last year’s South Asian Games in Nepal. He took bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games behind gold-winner Neeraj Chopra of India.

It hasn’t been an easy path for the 1.87 metre-tall (six feet two inches) Nadeem, who comes from a village in a wheat and cotton-producing area of Punjab. With sons and daughters put to work early, he had little time for his first love, cricket, and facilities and proper training were scarce. 

— via AFP