At the World Championships’ men’s javelin throw finals, defending champion Neeraj Chopra had a terrible performance that ended his poor eighth place finish. Sachin Yadav, a debutant compatriot, finished a creditable fourth in Tokyo on Thursday, setting a personal best.
Chopra was eliminated after the fifth and last round with a best performance of 84.03m, placing him ninth overall on a day when no thrower was able to cross 90m.
At the same venue where he won an Olympic gold medal in 2021, the 27-year-old fouled his fifth attempt to exit the competition.
Surprisingly, Yadav ended up representing India in the sixth and final round, which is reserved for the top six competitors.
With his personal best throw of 86.27 meters on his first try, he defeated not only Chopra but also Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (82.75 meters) and German sensation Julian Weber (86.11 meters).
Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott (88.16m) won the gold, followed by Anderson Peters (87.38m) and Curtis Thompson (86.67m) of Grenada.
In the fourth round, Nadeem, who was placed second in the last edition, was one of the first throwers to exit.
After starting with 83.65 meters, which placed him in fifth place, Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist, advanced to 84.03 meters before fouling his third throw.
After the second round, he fell to eighth spot and stayed there until the halfway point.
In order to stay in contention, he needed to surpass Kenya’s Julius Yego in his fifth throw, which measured 85.54 meters, after his fourth throw, which measured 82.86 meters.
Chopra, however, ended the day in disappointment after fouling his fifth throw.
He let go of his spear, tumbled sideways, and crossed the curved line to see the official’s red flag. Before gathering himself, he took off his waist belt and buried his face in it for a while.
It was mystifying that Chopra, who was known for his consistency, failed to reach the 85-meter mark in five attempts. Prior to Thursday, his worst throw was 82.27 meters that earned him a gold at the Federation Cup in May 2024.
Under the guidance of the renowned Jan Zelezny, he broke the 90-meter mark in May with a throw of 90.23 meters in the Doha Diamond League, but his graph has since declined.
