2,566 days. That’s how long it had been since Neeraj Chopra finished outside top three at any event that he participated in. And that glorious streak – arguably the greatest in elite international sport in an Olympics discipline for India – came to an end in Tokyo on Tuesday. Neeraj finished 8th at the World Athletics Championships final, with a sub-par best throw of 84.03m. It was an all-Americas podium as Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott clinched his first global title with 88.16m, Grenada’s Anderson Peters finished second with a throw of 87.38m to add a silver medal to the golds he won at the 2019 and 2022 world championships and bronze went to Curtis Thompson, who sent his opening throw 86.67m to win a first world championship medal for the United States in the event since Breaux Greer in 2007. This is also the first time in World Championships men’s javelin history that no European has finished in the top 3.
Here are some talking points from a wild men’s javelin throw final
Neeraj’s streak ends
33 events. That is how long (without including qualification rounds at the Majors like Worlds and Olympics) that Neeraj had consecutively finished in the top three at events he had thrown in. You’d have to go back to IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava, back in September 2018 for that last time that happened, when he finished sixth. The top-two streak has been incredible too, with the third place at Kuortane Games in June 2021 the last time he even finished third. It just wasn’t happening for the Indian superstar in Tokyo on Thursday.
Ironically, it is in Tokyo that this run had to end… the stadium that truly catapulted him to global superstar status. There was no fairytale return to the site of his 2021 Olympic triumph as he got nowhere near the 90.23m he threw earlier this season as he struggled to a best attempt of 84.03m and finished eighth. Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, who has spent much of the season injured, also had a disappointing evening and finished 10th with a best throw of 82.75m. Sachin Yadav restored pride for India with a personal best of 86.27m on his first attempt to finish fourth ahead of Julian Weber
Walcott’s stunning win
On the broadcast, as the event wound down, Walcott could be heard saying: 13 years, appended by a vocal exclamation mark. For the first time since he claimed Olympic gold as a teenager in 2012, he won another Major title. The 32-year-old dominated the competition in a blustery breeze at the National Stadium, producing the two longest throws of the evening to secure a first world championship medal to add to his 2012 gold and the bronze he won at the 2016 Rio Olympics. And fascinatingly, he did so with Neeraj’s former coach Dr Klaus Bartonietz guiding him.
Weber’s wretched run
Who wins gold in men’s javelin if often dependent on the day, the conditions and what not… but there was little doubt that the form athlete coming into Tokyo was Julian Weber, the German who had been setting events alight right through the season. After starting the season by entering the 90m club along with Neeraj in Doha, and bettering it in Paris with a 91.51, Weber was a sureshot medal favourite if not taking home the gold. But as it panned out, in an event where both Neeraj and Arshad Nadeem fell by the wayside early, he still finished without a medal. The German is no stranger to heartbreak on the big stage. His CV now reads: 4th place at Olympics x 1, 4th place Worlds x 2, 5th place at Worlds x 1, 6th place at Olympics x 1, 6th place at Worlds x 1. Just not meant to be for the big German, it’d seem.
(With Reuters inputs)
