Tokyo, Sept 13: Neeraj Chopra will aim to become only the third men’s javelin thrower in history to defend the World Championships gold as he carries the country’s weight of expectations on his broad shoulders as the lone Indian medal prospect in the athletics showpiece beginning here on Saturday.Chopra had won gold in the 2023 edition in Budapest with a throw of 88.17m, while Pakistan’s reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (87.82m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) had pocketed silver and bronze respectively.
If the two-time Olympic medallist Indian wins gold on September 18, the day of the finals, he will become the third man ever to win the world championships javelin title in two consecutive editions.
The legendary Czech thrower Jan Zelezny (1993 and 1995), who is now Chopra’s coach, and Anderson Peters (2019 and 2022) of Grenada are the other two who have so far won the world championships crown on two consecutive occasions.
Chopra, who is leading a 19-member Indian team as the lone medal contender, will face Nadeem for the first time in more than a year after the 2024 Paris Olympics, giving him a chance to avenge his second-place finish in the French capital.
It will not, however, be easy for the 27-year-old Chopra to nail the gold in a blockbuster field in Tokyo – though it’s the same arena where he won the Olympic gold to script history in 2021. The world’s javelin royalty will be in action, including Nadeem and newly-crowned Diamond League champion, Julian Weber of Germany.
The likes of Peters, Kenya’s 2015 world champion Julius Yego, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, Vadlejch as well as Brazil’s Luiz da Silva, who went past 90m mark, will also be seen in action. The qualifying round of men’s javelin will be held on September 17.
Weber, however, will start as favourite. The 31-year-old German has sent the spear to 90m-plus distances three times this season. He is the world leader with 91.51m and his confidence is high after winning the Diamond League trophy last month.
The season saw Chopra breach the coveted 90m mark during the Doha Diamond League in May but the year has also seen the Indian superstar logging some mediocre distances. He had failed to breach 85m in two competitions, went past a little over 85m on two occasions, and had a 86m-plus effort in another event. His second best throw this year was a 88.16m.
Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav are also in the fray, as India is being represented by four athletes in men’s javelin, the most among competing countries in the event. Chopra has been handed wild card as defending champion while the other three made the cut through world rankings.
Apart from the men’s javelin throwers, the likes of Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw), Parul Chaudhary (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Murali Sreeshankar (men’s long jump), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5000m) and Praveen Chithravel (men’s triple jump) would look to reach the final rounds.
The 33-year-old Rani is featuring in her fifth World Championships, having competed in 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. She had reached the final round in 2019 and 2022. After a mediocre 2024, she has been in good touch this year with 62.59m as her season best. She would be looking to better her best finish of seventh achieved in 2022.
Back to action after a long injury lay-off, Sreeshankar made it to World Championships at the last minute. He has won all the five competitions he has taken part on his return but he will need to do much better than his season best of 8.05m if he wants to be in the medal bracket.
National record holder sprinter Animesh Kujur will be the first Indian to compete in the men’s 200m race in a world championships, but how far he advances remains to be seen. The same will also be the case for national record holder Tejas Shirse in men’s 110m hurdles.