Neeraj Chopra 89.34m Throw Silences Critics, Sets Stage for Javelin Final at Paris Olympics 2024

Neeraj Chopra Throw Nears the Elusive 89.34m Mark

Neeraj Chopra stormed into the men’s javelin final of the Paris Olympics 2024 with a season-best throw of 89.34m, topping the qualification.

One and done! One attempt was all Neeraj Chopra needed to sleepwalk into the men’s javelin final at the Paris Olympics. The defending champion breached his season-best and nudged the elusive 90m mark with a massive 89.34m throw to top the qualification rounds of the men’s javelin event on Tuesday.

Neeraj Chopra stormed into the men’s javelin final with a season-best throw of 89.34m (PTI) Neeraj Chopra stormed into the men’s javelin final with a season-best throw of 89.34m (PTI)

Neeraj was so effortless and nonchalant that there was no extravagant celebration or expected roar, which is common for athletes when the javelin satisfactorily leaves their hand. In fact, as soon as he let the javelin rip, Neeraj had a slightly natural look on his face. It was only when the cameras turned and panned to track the javelin’s landing that everyone realized the enormity of the throw. It was 89.34m.

Now, Neeraj had his arms up in the air. ‘It was inevitable,’ the look on his face screamed aloud that echoed through the walls of Stade de France and ran deep into the hearts of the rest of his competitors.

Much like his performance in the Tokyo Olympics, the 26-year-old crossed the automatic qualifying mark of 84m in his opening throw to occupy the top spot in Group B.

The tremendous effort, which is the second-best of his career, also set aside concerns surrounding Chopra’s fitness after he revealed that he had been battling an adductor niggle in the build-up to the Games. His personal best continues to be 89.94m achieved back in 2022.

The other Indian in the fray, Kishore Jena, bowed out of contention to make the 12-man final on Thursday after managing a poor throw of 80.73m.

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, also qualified for the finals with a throw of 86.59m in Group B.

From the same group, Grenada veteran Anderson Peters too made the cut with a throw of 88.63m.

Chopra produced the most eye-catching performance of the day lasting just a few minutes — quite literally a case of ‘he came, he threw, and he conquered.’ Earlier in the day, Jena finished ninth in Group A qualification round with an underwhelming throw of 80.73m, which has pushed him out of contention for a slot in the finals.

All those who throw 84m or above, or at least 12 best performers from Group A and B combined will advance to the final to be held on Thursday.

Jena’s opening throw was 80.73m, and he fouled his second attempt before coming up with 80.21m in his last effort.

Julian Weber of Germany topped Group A with a first-round throw of 87.76m while former world champion Julius Yego (85.97m) of Kenya and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (85.63m) of Czechia were second and third respectively.

Toni Keranen (85.27m) of Finland was the fourth athlete to surpass the automatic qualification mark of 84m.

Jena had booked an automatic Olympics berth with his 87.54m throw for a silver medal in the Asian Games in October last year.

After that, he crossed the 80m mark in just one out of six competitions before Tuesday.

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