Neeraj Chopra settles for Silver at Paris Olympics; Pakistan’s Nadeem Arshad wins gold with a record throw
Neeraj Chopra missed the chance to defend his Olympic gold on Friday and settled for silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters in the men's javelin final at the Paris Olympics.
Pakistan’s Nadeem Arshad, who finished 5th at the Tokyo Olympics, clinched gold with a monstrous throw of 92.97 meters, setting a new Olympic record.
Chopra, comfortably ahead in qualifiers and favourite to win, looked off his best form. His best throw of 89.45 meters came on his second attempt. He committed four consecutive fouls in his final four attempts.
With this sliver, the 26-year-old became the fourth Indian athlete to clinch two Olympic medals in an individual sport.
Grenada's Anderson Peters won bronze with 88.54, a redemptive moment for the two-time world champion after he failed to make it to the final at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Chopra had qualified for the finals of the Paris Olympics by registering a huge throw of 89.34 metres in Group B of the qualification round.
His first attempt during the qualification was his all-time second-best throw at a men's javelin event, with his top throw coming at Stockholm Diamond League 2022 with a distance of 89.94 m. It was also his best throw in any qualification round, alleviating any concerns about his fitness, as he had previously disclosed that he was dealing with an adductor niggle leading up to the Games.
Chopra started his season with a second-place finish at the Doha Diamond League on May 10 with an 88.36m throw.
He then logged a modest 82.27 m to bag the gold medal at
