Neeraj Chopra, the reigning champion, easily advanced to the men’s javelin throw final at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by dominating the competition on Tuesday.
On his first try at the Stade de France, Neeraj broke the 84-meter direct qualification requirement with a tremendous throw of 89.34 meters. The current world champion’s throw was his second-best of his career.
The 26-year-old set a personal best in 2022 in the Stockholm Diamond League with a jump of 89.94 meters. Additionally, it is the national record for men’s javelin throw in India.
In the Paris qualification round, Neeraj Chopra also recorded his best performance of the year. He had previously placed second at the Doha Diamond League in May with a mark of 88.36 meters.
On August 8, the men’s javelin throw final is slated to happen at the same location.
Neeraj is competing in his second Olympics in Paris. He took home the gold medal in Tokyo 2020 with a throw of 87.58 meters.
Julian Weber of Germany is anticipated to provide fierce opposition for the Indian javelin champion in the championship match. Weber met the requirements for direct qualification and made a record.
In the final, Grenada’s Anderson Peters, a two-time world champion, too left his mark with an incredible 88.63-meter throw on his first try.
With an 85.63-meter throw, Czech thrower Jakub Vadljech—who had defeated Neeraj by 2 cm in the Doha Diamond League earlier this year—also made it to the final. Vadljech had placed second in Tokyo with a distance of 86.67 meters.
In the meantime, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem made the final in Paris 2024 with a throw of 86.59 meters on his debut. Nadeem, the current Commonwealth Games champion, came in second to Neeraj at the 2023 World Championships.
However, Kishore Jena of India was unable to advance to the final. He was placed in Group A earlier in the day and on his first try, he made a best throw of 80.73 meters.