World Athletics Championships: India’s Neeraj Chopra wins gold

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has made history once again by becoming the first Indian to secure a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

The achievement came on Sunday in Budapest, where the 25-year old dominated the men’s javelin final with an impressive throw of 88.17m.

The silver went to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who achieved his season’s best with a throw of 87.82m. The bronze was claimed by Jakub Vadlejch from the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, three Indian athletes secured spots in the top eight. Kishore Jena recorded a distance of 84.77m, landing in fifth place, while DP Manu achieved a throw of 84.14m, securing the sixth spot.

Chopra achieved his best throw during his second attempt. His sequence of throws included 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m, and 83.98m.

.@Neeraj_chopra1 brings home a historic gold for India in the javelin throw ?#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/YfRbwBBh7Z

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 27, 2023

With this victory, Chopra becomes only the second Indian athlete to simultaneously hold both the Olympics and World Championships titles, joining the ranks of Abhinav Bindra. Bindra won the World Championships title at 23 and the Olympics gold at 25.

Chopra, who gained fame as the first Indian Olympic track and field gold medalist in the 2021 Tokyo Games, had previously secured a silver in the 2022 World Championships.

Accomplishments of Neeraj Chopra

Furthermore, Chopra is now among the few javelin throwers in history to hold both the Olympics and World Championships titles. The achievement places him alongside the Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic and Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen.

The Olympic champion becomes the javelin throw world champion ☄️

??’s @Neeraj_chopra1 throws 88.17m to upgrade last year’s silver medal into glittering gold in Budapest ?#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/8K1mIvcYmF

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 27, 2023

His other accomplishments include gold medals in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, in addition to four individual Diamond League Meeting titles and the Diamond League champion’s trophy in the previous year. He also claimed the junior world champion title in 2016 and won the Asian Championships in 2017.