World Athletics Championships: Arshad Nadeem wins silver for Pakistan with 87.82m throw in javelin final

Pakistan’s javelin ace Arshad Nadeem won a silver medal for the country after securing second position in the men’s javelin final of the World Athletics Championships with a season-best 87.82-metre throw.

India’s javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who registered a massive throw of 88.17m in his second attempt, won the gold medal. Neeraj is the first Indian to win a gold in the World Championships.

He now has gold medals in the Olympics, Diamond League, and the World Athletics Championships.

Javelin throw final

Finland’s Oliver Helander started the proceedings with an 83.38m throw, followed by Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who threw the javelin at a distance of 82.59m on the first attempt.

Pakistan’s javelin ace Arshad Nadeem started off with a 74.80-metre throw, while India’s Neeraj Chopra began with a foul.

Other Indian javelin throwers – DP Manu and Kishore Jena – registered 78.44 m and 75.0m throws, respectively, in their first tries.

Jakub improved on his first attempt and registered an 84.18m throw in the second attempt.

After a sloppy start, Chopra made a comeback and registered an 88.17m throw in his second attempt to jump to the top spot.

Arshad, who failed to cross the 80m mark in his first attempt, scored a massive 87.82m in the second round and 87.86m in the third to secure the second spot on the points table.

Arshad and Neeraj will be next seen in action during the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Both track and field athletes had qualified for the Paris Olympics by crossing the qualification mark of 85.50m.

Pakistan’s javelin hero

Nadeem rose to prominence after finishing fifth in the Tokyo Olympics. Last year, Nadeem finished fifth in the World Championship in the United States. Soon after, he set a Commonwealth Games record with his best throw of 90.18 metres and won gold in Birmingham.

He then had elbow and left knee surgeries in London, took time to recover, and then competed in the 34th National Games in Quetta in May.

Despite failing to demonstrate his fitness there, he won a gold for his departmental team, Wapda. He took a heavy blow in this event when he injured his right knee, forcing him to miss the recent Asian Championship in Bangkok.