India’s national record holder Annu Rani managed to find her best attempt of the day just in time to reach the World Athletics Championships women’s javelin final in Oregon on Wednesday.
This will be Annu Rani’s second consecutive appearance at the final of the World Championships, as she made the cut in Doha as well in 2019.
After being unhappy with her first throw and stepping out for a foul, Rani’s second attempt was around the 55m mark and even on a day when the marks were largely below the best for throwers across two groups, that wasn’t going to be enough.
With automatic qualification mark of 62.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) reaching final, Rani needed to cross the 59m mark with her third and final attempt and she did just that to put herself through in eighth place.
The women’s javelin throw final takes place on Saturday morning at 06.50 am IST.
Rani barely celebrated that improved third try even when the mark came up and she was evidently quite safe. She would now seek to get close to her personal best (63.82m) in the final and improve her eighth place finish from Doha.
Here’s a look at the top 12:
Rani later said in the mixed zone that she wasn’t quite happy with her effort as she knew she had a bigger throw left in her, adding that the warm-up wasn’t ideal at the venue and she took her time to get into her strides.
Annu Rani's top 10 javelin throws
| Date | Competition | Cnt. | Type Nr. | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08 MAY 2022 | Indian Open Javelin Throw Competition, Jamshedpur | IND | F | 63.82 (NR) |
| 15 MAR 2021 | Federation Cup, Patiala | IND | F | 63.24 |
| 28 JUN 2021 | National Inter State Senior Athletics Ch., Patiala | IND | F | 62.83 |
| 09 JUL 2022 | MVA HP #2, CVEATC, Chula Vista, CA | USA | F | 62.52 |
| 30 SEP 2019 | IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Khalifa International Stadium, Doha | QAT | Q1 | 62.43 |
| 17 MAR 2019 | Federation Cup, Patiala | IND | F | 62.34 |
| 26 JUN 2022 | XXXII Qosanov Memorial, Almaty | KAZ | F | 62.29 |
| 05 MAR 2021 | Indian Grand Prix 3, Patiala | IND | F | 61.98 |
| 04 JUN 2017 | Patiala Federation Cup, Patiala | IND | F | 61.86 |
| 01 SEP 2019 | Memoriálu Jana Mazance, Domažlice | CZE | F | 61.79 |
In women’s 5000m heats, Parul Chaudhary finished 17th in Heat 2 and 31st overall with a timing of 15:54.03.
On Friday morning Indian time, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will be in qualification action in men’s javelin throw. Automatic qualifying mark 83.50 (Q) or at least best 12 qualify for the final. Chopra is slated to go first in Group A, that starts at 5.35 am IST.
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