India's Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra qualified for the men's javelin final at the World Athletics Championships being held in Eugene, a city in the US state of Oregon, with a massive throw of 88.39m on Friday.
With the qualification mark set at 83.50m, Chopra took just 10 seconds to progress to the final with ease in his very first attempt.
The 24-year-old's throw was best in his group at the Hayward Field with only Grenada's Anderson Peters who threw the javelin to a distance of 89.91m – her fourth best effort ever – ahead of him.
Straight onto the final 💪
Olympic javelin champion @Neeraj_chopra1 🇮🇳throws an automatic qualifier of 88.39m on his first attempt!#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/tOzsEwkxLS
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 22, 2022
The Tokyo Olympic Champion will be looking forward to creating history in the final which will be held early Sunday morning India time.
Legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George remains the only Indian so far to have won a medal at the World Athletics Championships when she clinched a bronze in 2003.
Chopra is in splendid form, having set a new national record of 89.94m only last month at the Diamond League in Stockholm. Just before that, he had also sent the spear to a distance of 89.30m on June 14 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland.
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