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Neeraj Chopra wins silver at World Athletics Championships, scripts history again

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra made history winning the javelin silver at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday but midway through the final he was in the fourth spot with 86.37m after opening the series with a foul.

For a man used to grabbing the lead with his opening effort — as he did at the Tokyo Olympics qualification and final rounds and also in the qualifiers here — Neeraj appeared to be stuck in a rather different world in the final.
Neeraj Chopra competes in the men’s javelin throw final during the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on July 23, 2022.

What was running in his mind then?

“I was only thinking of how to throw at the target I had imagined. With time, the competition also gets tougher. The fourth throw was good, but, I feel, it could have been better. Anyway, whatever I did, I am happy with the silver,” said the 24-year-old, the country’s greatest athlete and also the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champion.

“I was a little bit tense after seeing the first two throws (a foul followed by an 82.39m),” Anju Bobby George, the country’s only other World Championships medallist with her long jump bronze in Paris 2003, told  The Hindu.

“And then, when he started the fourth throw I knew it would end up being a big one,” she added.

For a country used to disappointments on the big stage, for a few minutes, it felt as if its Olympic champion was also falling into this habit.

But, suddenly misgivings were replaced by joy as Neeraj’s 88.13m fourth attempt made him the country’s first-ever silver medallist and the first male medallist at the Worlds, pushing Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (88.09) to bronze.

Grenada’s defending World champion Anderson Peters retained his title with a massive 90.21m opener and then followed it with two more 90-plus throws (90.46 & 90.54) in what was perhaps the greatest series in Worlds history.