World Athletics 2023 highlights, Neeraj Chopra (88.77m) enters final

India's 'Golden Boy' Neeraj Chopra on Friday produced another sterling performance to seal his spot in the men's javelin throw final at the prestigious World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The World Athletics Championships 2023 is being held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest from August 19 to 27.

Placed in the Group A Qualifier, Olympic gold medalist Neeraj recorded a massive throw of 88.77m in his first attempt, breaching the qualifying mark of 83.00m.

Neeraj, who went into the championships as world's top-ranked javelin thrower, didn't take his second and third attempts. With this massive throw, Neeraj has also qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The qualifying cut of the Budapest 2023, the 19th edition of the world athletics championships, men's javelin throw competition final is set at 83.00 m.

Last year, the 25-year-old Tokyo Olympic medalist had won the silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene.

Neeraj has already won gold at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. He is also the Diamond League winner.

At least 12 players will be going into the final which will take place on Sunday.

Neeraj Chopra is still the biggest medal hope for India as the silver medalist from Eugene 2022. 25-year-old Neeraj will aim to make it Gold when he takes the Javelin in his hands at Budapest’s National Athletics Centre in Hungry.

World Athletics Championship 2023: Javelin Throw Group A results

POS	BIB	COUNTRY	ATHLETE	MARK
1	2451	IND	Neeraj CHOPRA	88.77 (SB)
2	2394	GER	Julian WEBER	82.39
3	2457	IND	D.P MANU	81.31
4	2789	POL	Dawid WEGNER	81.25
5	2291	FIN	Toni KUUSELA	79.27
6	2564	JPN	Roderick Genki DEAN	79.21
7	2414	GRN	Anderson PETERS	78.49
8	2630	KEN	Julius YEGO	78.42
9	2640	LAT	Patriks GAILUMS	77.43
10	2584	JPN	Kenji OGURA	76.65
11	3042	USA	Capers WILLIAMSON	76.1
12	2840	RSA	Douw SMIT	75.03
13	2330	FRA	Felise VAHAI SOSAIA	74.8
14	3032	USA	Curtis THOMPSON	74.21
15	2804	POR	Leandro RAMOS	74.03
16	2639	LAT	Gatis CAKSS	73.42
17	2123	BRA	Pedro Henrique RODRIGUES	72.34

Why is Neeraj Chopra the best bet at World Athletics 2023?

Having won the Olympics gold in 2021, Neeraj managed to win silver in 2022 World Athletics Championships. In 2023, he has remained undefeated, winning the Doha Diamond League [88.67m] in May and the Lausanne Diamond League [87.66m] in June on his way to Budapest.

2:47 PM

Neeraj Chopra qualifies for 2024 Olympics, enters World Championships final with 88.77m throw

Neeraj Chopra on Friday qualified for the 2024 Olympics with a big throw of 88.77m in his first attempt, which also took him to the final of the javelin throw competition at the World Athletics Championships 2023.

 

The 25-year-old Chopra's qualifying round lasted just a few minutes as he sent the spear to his season's and fourth career-best distance. He was competing in Group A qualification round.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Neeraj Chopra. Photo: ANI

2:08 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Neeraj Chopra qualifies for the final of javelin throw event in World Athletics Championships 2023. 

With a throw of 88.77 metres, Chopra easily sails into the final as the qualfication mark is 83 metres. None of the other athletes have managed to cross 83 metre-mark yet.
 

2:01 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Group A qualifying event:

Neeraj Chopra registers 88.77 metres in his first throw

1:56 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

If Chopra wins a gold, he will become only the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win a yellow metal each in the Olympics and World Championships in individual sport.

 

Bindra, the first Indian individual event Olympic gold winner in 2008, had also achieved a World Championships top podium finish in 10m air rifle in 2006 in Zagreb.

 

Going by the current form of the top javelin throwers, there is no hot favourite to stand on the top of the podium after the August 27 final.

1:51 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event to begin shortly

The qualifying round for the javelin throw will begin shortly. 

In the pecking order, Neeraj is placed at 18th position. It will take some time before Neeraj will be in action at World Athletics Championships.

Stay tuned.

1:40 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Rules of qualifying event in javelin throw

 

For automatic qualification for the finals, which will take place on August 27, the athlete has to throw the javelin for 83 metres. 

1:36 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

In the previous edition of World Athletics Championship, Neeraj Chopra came very close to become the first India world champion in any athletics discipline. However, he eventually settled for a Silver medal after finishing behind Grenada's Anderson Peters.

Neeraj Chopra

1:30 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Neeraj Chopra's winning streak

Date	Competition	Round	Result
Javelin Throw / 01.01.1996 - 25.08.2023 / 4 wins
30 Jun 2023	Athletissima, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne	F	87.66
05 May 2023	Diamond League Meeting, Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	F	88.67
08 Sep 2022	Weltklasse, Letzigrund, Zürich	F	88.44
26 Aug 2022	Athletissima, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne	F	89.08

Neeraj Chopra (Photo: ANI)

1:24 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Here's how Neeraj Chopra peformed during previous edition of World Athletics Championships

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022, Hayward Field, Eugene, 

Neeraj Chopra's best through: 88.13
Ranking: 2

Neeraj Chopra in action during Tokyo Olympics (Photo: Reuters)

1:21 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Neeraj Chopra adds Range Rover Velar to his garage

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has bought a new Range Rover Velar SUV to add to his garage, an HTAuto report said. Chopra drove home the Velar SUV which costs about Rs 90 lakh (ex-showroom). The news came out as the Javelin champion was seen posing with his new Velar, outside the Land Rover showroom in Haryana.

Check details here

12:56 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Here's the full list of athletes to compete in Group A in javelin throw event at World Athletics Championships 2023:

ORDER	COUNTRY	ATHLETE	Personal Best	Season Best
1	JPN	Kenji OGURA	81.63	80.13
2	BRA	Pedro Henrique RODRIGUES	83.89	83.89
3	FIN	Toni KUUSELA	85.03	84.37
4	KEN	Julius YEGO	92.72	81.84
5	LAT	Gatis CAKSS	87.57	80.44
6	GER	Julian WEBER	89.54	88.72
7	JPN	Roderick Genki DEAN	84.28	83.15
8	USA	Curtis THOMPSON	87.7	80.92
9	FRA	Felise VAHAI SOSAIA	82.04	82.04
10	GRN	Anderson PETERS	93.07	85.88
11	POR	Leandro RAMOS	84.78	81.62
12	USA	Capers WILLIAMSON	80.49	79.95
13	RSA	Douw SMIT	83.29	83.29
14	IND	D.P MANU	84.35	84.33
15	LAT	Patriks GAILUMS	84.05	84.05
16	TTO	Keshorn WALCOTT	90.16	85.85
17	POL	Dawid WEGNER	82.21	82.21
18	IND	Neeraj CHOPRA	89.94	88.67

12:34 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has been trying it for a while now and the ace javelin thrower says he is "close" to breaching the coveted 90-metre mark and just needs "favourable conditions" to assist him in his quest.
 

Last year, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist had fallen agonisingly short of the 90m mark, throwing the spear to a distance of 89.94m at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm.

Tap here to read the full story

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra (Photo/SAI Media-Twitter)

12:29 PM

World Athletics Championships 2023 LIVE, Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of Neeraj Chopra javelin throw event. India's golden boy Neeraj will be in action in few hours time now along with compatriot DP Manu at World Athletics Championship 2023 in Budapest today. 


Stay tuned for build up and live updates.

Neeraj Chopra (Photo: SAI/ Twitter)