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India's Neeraj Chopra qualified for the finals of the men's javelin throw event in style at the ongoing World Athletics Championships 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene on Friday, July 22.
Neeraj achieved automatic qualification, crossing the mark of 83.50m by a fair margin. The Olympic gold medalist recorded a stupendous 88.39m throw in his very first attempt. The final will be played on Saturday, July 23.
The Tokyo Olympic gold medalist's advancement into the final also raises hopes of India ending a medal drought at the World Athletics Championships. Anju Bobby George remains the lone medalist for India, winning a bronze medal at the 2003 edition in Paris.
Four of the 12 finalists - two from each group - crossed the automatic qualification mark of 83.50m.
Neeraj Chopra will be joined by Rohit Yadav, who also qualified for the final. He secured the 11th position with a throw of 80.42m. Athletes who cross the automatic qualifying mark or finish among the top 12 qualify for the finals.
Neeraj Chopra storms into the WAC final in his opening attempt
Neeraj Chopra looked relaxed and confident ahead of the men's javelin throw qualifiers. He went through his warm-ups and looked all set to cement a place in the final.
The battle between Neeraj and reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada is one to watch out for in the final. Like the Indian athlete, Peters is also in red-hot form and has thrown the javelin past the 90 meter mark thrice this year.
The two champions competed in the Stockholm Diamond League earlier this month, with the Indian finishing second.
In the ongoing season. Neeraj rewrote the national record twice in the three events he has participated in. He first set a national record at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland in his season-opener and went on to breach it in the Stockholm Diamond League with a throw of 89.94m.
The javelin ace has been gunning to breach the 90 meter mark this season and given his form, Hayward Field could witness history being created.
