The historic gold medal for India at the World Athletics Championships was won by Neeraj Chopra. With a stunning throw of 88.17m on his second attempt, the ace Indian javelin thrower made history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championships. Chopra made a foul on his first try, but recovered to make the throw that won him the gold. He made 86.32 and 84.64 meters on his third and fourth tries, respectively. On his fifth attempt, he threw 87.73 meters, and he finished with an 83.98-meter throw.
With this exceptional performance, Neeraj not only won the gold medal, but also cemented his position as a pioneer of Indian sports on a global scale.
With a silver medal in hand, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, another strong competitor, finished only behind Neeraj’s accomplishment. Nadeem managed a remarkable throw of 87.82 meters, continuing his stellar performance from past Commonwealth Games appearances.
Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic earned the third position on the podium by showcasing his talent with a best throw of 86.67 meters.
Neeraj’s father Satish Kumar, visibly proud of his son’s achievement told ANI, “This is a very proud moment for our country as we got a gold medal in the World Championship as well. We will celebrate once Neeraj comes back to India.”
India now has medals from every color at the world championships. After winning a silver last year, this is Neeraj’s second medal at the World Championships. Prior to his two medals, Anju Bobby George, a bronze medallist in the women’s long jump at the 2003 World Championships, was India’s last medalist.
Oliver Helander of Finland took the lead in the opening round of attempts with a throw of 83.38 meters. Neeraj Chopra got off to a bad start when his first toss was called a foul. Kishore Jena and DP Manu’s first throws were 75.70 meters and 78.44 meters, respectively. However, it wasn’t enough to place them in the top three. Helander was in front of the pack after the first round of tries.
Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic claimed the lead in the second round of attempts with a throw of 84.18 meters. Neeraj, though, overcame his initial fears and outdid Jakub with an enormous 88.17 m throw to grab the lead. The second attempt by Manu was foul
With a strong second throw of 82.82 meters, Jena moved up to fifth place. After the second round of tries, Neeraj had taken the lead with a huge 88.17 m.
Neeraj began the third round of tries with a throw that ranked second in the competition so far at 86.32 meters. He was able to keep the lead. Arshad Nadeem, the Commonwealth Games champion from Pakistan, moved up to position two with a huge throw of 87.82 m. He made a season-best throw, while the Olympic champion Neeraj was only a few meters behind him. Manu maintained his position of fifth with a third try of 83.72 m. Jena’s third try resulted in a foul, keeping him in seventh place. After the third round of tries, Neeraj had the upper hand with 88.17.
At the beginning of the fourth round of attempts, Jena was still in seventh place thanks to his fourth try of 80.19 m. Manu’s fourth try resulted in a foul, which kept him in position five. Still in the lead, Neeraj recorded his fourth throw of 84.64 meters. Nadeem, who had the second-best throw of the preceding attempts and threw 87.15 m on his fourth attempt, was nevertheless still fairly near to him. At the conclusion of the fourth round of attempts, Neeraj was in first place.
Jena finished fourth, almost missing a bronze with his fifth effort of 84.77 m. Nadeem’s dreams of landing in the top slot were dashed as his fifth attempt was called a foul. Neeraj maintained the lead with his sixth throw, which was 87.73 meters. It was, however, only a few centimeters short of Nadeem’s prior second-best throw of 87.82 m. In their sixth tries, Manu recorded 83.48 m and Jena recorded 84.77 m. Manu was sixth, and Jena was fifth. Still, Neeraj was in first place.
Manu’s final throw of 84.14 meters kept him in sixth place in the final round of attempts. Jena made a foul and remained in fifth place.
In his final try, Nadeem’s throw of 81.86 meters fell short of Neeraj’s 88.17 meters. In this way, Neeraj won India’s first-ever gold medal in a World Championship while Nadeem settled for a silver.
