Neeraj Chopra won gold in his first World Athletics Championship

Neeraj Chopra won gold in his first World Athletics Championship

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra created history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships. The 25-year-old Indian started with a foul but cleared his javelin to a distance of 88.17m which proved to be his gold medal-winning throw.

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The Olympic champion becomes the javelin throw world champion ☄️

??'s @Neeraj_chopra1 throws 88.17m to upgrade last year's silver medal into glittering gold in Budapest ?#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/8K1mIvcYmF

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 27, 2023

Three Indians Finished in Top eight

In another first, three Indians finished in the top eight, with Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m) finishing fifth and sixth. Never before in the World Championships have three Indians finished in the top eight of any event.

Neeraj Chopra

The 25-year-old Chopra fouled initially but then managed 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m. Pakistan's defending Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem won the silver with his season's best throw of 87.82m, while Czech Republic's Jakub Wadlejch took the bronze.

Neeraj Chopra is the GOAT ??

First Indian to win a Gold Medal in the World Athletics Championships....!!!!!!pic.twitter.com/SyE0TtzDsX

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 27, 2023

Chopra has now become only the second Indian after shooting great Abhinav Bindra to win the Olympic and World Championship titles simultaneously. Bindra won a world championship title at the age of 23 and an Olympic gold at the age of 25.

Neeraj Chopra in Tokyo 2021

Neeraj Chopra, who became the first Indian Olympic track and field gold medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Games, won a silver medal at the 2022 edition of the World Championships. Before her, great long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships.

The Indian superstar became only the third javelin thrower in history to win Olympic and World Championships titles simultaneously, after the iconic Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.

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