Neeraj Chopra won a historic silver in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon to become the second Indian after Anju Bobby George to win India a medal at the event.
Chopra’s silver makes it the best ever finish by an Indian athlete at the World Championships. Anju Bobby George had won bronze in Paris 2003.
Chopra’s 88.13m throw with his 4th attempt saw him finish second behind defending world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch took bronze with an 88.09m throw.
The second Indian in the final, 21-year-old Rohit Yadav finished 10th with a best throw of 78.72m
Neeraj Chopra’s attempts: X, 82.39, 86.37, 88.13, X, X (Silver medal)
Final results of men's JT
| Position | ATHLETE | NAT | MARK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson PETERS | GRN | 90.54 |
| 2 | Neeraj CHOPRA | IND | 88.13 |
| 3 | Jakub VADLEJCH | CZE | 88.09 |
| 4 | Julian WEBER | GER | 86.86 |
| 5 | Arshad NADEEM | PAK | 86.16 SB |
| 6 | Lassi ETELÄTALO | FIN | 82.70 SB |
| 7 | Andrian MARDARE | MDA | 82.26 |
| 8 | Oliver HELANDER | FIN | 82.24 |
| 9 | Roderick Genki DEAN | JPN | 80.69 |
| 10 | Rohit YADAV | IND | 78.72 |
| 11 | Curtis THOMPSON | USA | 78.39 |
| 12 | Ihab ABDELRAHMAN | EGY | 75.99 |
Chopra took his time to get started, after an intentional foul and a 82.39m. He then improved again, throwing a best of 86.37m in his third attempt even as Anderson Peters sent the javelin flying beyond 90m with his first two attempts.
Trailing outside the medal positions, Neeraj, fourth behind Vadlejch and German Julian Weber, threw a massive 88.13m with his fourth try to jump to the silver medal position.
The Tokyo Olympics champion needed to throw better than Peters’ 90.46m to clinch gold but fouled out with his final two attempts. The Indian winced after both his final throws as Peters celebrated defending his title by throwing the javelin 90.54m to better his mark.
But in the end, it was yet another historic global performance by the Indian as he went where no one from the country has gone before.
Yadav finished 10th
Rohit Yadav meanwhile finished 10th in the final, but kept improving his mark in the three attempts he managed to make.
He started with a 77.96m, and then improved it to 78.05. His third attempt was his best on the day, 78.72, keeping him 10th in the 12-man field in the finals.
Meanwhile in the men’s triple jump, Eldhose Paul finished ninth after making it to the 12-man final.
The 25-year-old managed to cover a distance of 16.37m in his first attempt. His second attempt was his best, as he jumped 16.79m, but could only manage 13.86 in his final attempt.
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