Neeraj Chopra wins World Athletics Championships gold: His career achievements
Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has become the talk of the town after clinching a historic gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest (Hungary). Chopra, who qualified with a massive 88.77m throw on Friday, clocked a remarkable 88.17m throw in the main event. He is now the only Indian athlete to win gold at the prestigious event. Here are his career achievements.
Chopra's throw enters record books
Chopra has become only the second Indian after former shooter Abhinav Bindra to win the Olympic gold medal and the World Championships honor at the same time. The former is the third javelin thrower to win the Olympic and the World Championships gold medals. Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway are the only others with this feat.
Chopra won silver at WAC 2022
In July 2022, Chopra secured the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, by winning the men's javelin throw final. He finished second with a best throw of 88.13m. Chopra had become only the second Indian to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships after long jumper Anju Bobby George (bronze medal in 2003).
Second Indian to clinch an individual Olympic gold
In 2021, Chopra became the second Indian to clinch an individual Olympic gold. Former shooter Bindra was the first Indian to do so at the Olympics. He attained the feat at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Before him, India had won eight gold medals in field hockey (team event). Notably, Chopra claimed Independent India's first medal in athletics.
Chopra has been close to 90m mark
Chopra has been trying to breach the 90m barrier. No Indian javelin thrower has ever achieved this feat. He was inches away from touching this mark at the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League. He recorded his best-ever throw of 89.94m. The Indian javelin thrower bettered his personal best record which he set in June that year at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland.
Chopra was nominated for Khel Ratna in 2018
In 2018, Chopra became the only track and field athlete to be nominated by the Athletics Federation of India for the country's highest sports award (Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award). The former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind had presented him with the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Chopra has also won the Arjuna (2018) and Padma Shri awards (2022).
Here's how Chopra tasted early success
In 2015, Chopra registered a world record throw of 81.04 meters in the junior category at the All India Inter-University Athletics Meet. Notably, this was his first throw of over 80m. A year later, he set a world junior record at the 2016 IAAF World Under-20 Championships (86.48m) in Bydgoszcz (won gold). He was the first Indian to attain this world record.
A look at his other achievements
Chopra won his first gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games, having achieved a new personal best throw (at that time) of 82.23m. The 25-year-old won back-to-back gold medals at the Commonwealth Games (86.47m) and Asian Games (88.06m) in 2018. Notably, he had made his debut in both these events. The Indian javelin star is expected to scale heights in the future.
