Neeraj Chopra’s monstrous 89.34m throw that secured the final javelin spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics – Watch

Defending champion Neeraj Chopra capitalized on the style as he reached the Olympic Games men’s javelin final with a season’s best throw of 89.34m in his first attempt in the qualifying round on Tuesday. Like his performance at the Tokyo Olympics, the 26-year-old surpassed the automatic qualification mark of 84m on his first throw to take first place in Group B. The tremendous effort, which is the second best of his career, also set aside concerns surrounding Chopra’s fitness after he revealed he was battling an adductor problem in the lead-up to the Games. His personal best remains 89.94 million achieved in 2022.

ONE RELEASE IS ALL IT TAKES TO BE THE CHAMPION! #NeerajChopra qualifies for the Dart final in style

watch the athlete in action, LIVE NOW on #Esportes18 and stream for FREE on #JioCinema#OlympicsonJioCinema #OlympicsonSports18 #JioCinemaSports #Dart #Olympics pic.twitter.com/sNK0ry3Bnc

-JioCinema (@JioCinema) August 6, 2024

The other Indian in contention, Kishore Jena, dropped out of contention to reach the 12-man final on Thursday after managing a poor throw of 80.73m.

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, also qualified for the final with a throw of 86.59m in Group B.

From the same group, Grenadian veteran Anderson Peters also made the cut with a throw of 88.63m.

Chopra produced the most compelling performance of the day, lasting just a few minutes – literally a case of “he came, played and conquered”.

Earlier in the day, Jena finished ninth in the Group A qualifying round with a dismal throw of 80.73m, which took him out of contention for a place in the final.

All those who throw 84m or more, or at least the top 12 performers from Groups A and B combined will advance to the final to be held on Thursday.

Jena’s opening throw was 80.73m, and he fouled on his second attempt before hitting 80.21m on his final attempt.

Julian Weber of Germany topped Group A with a throw of 87.76m in the first round, while former world champion Julius Yego (85.97m) of Kenya and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch (85.63 m) from the Czech Republic came second and third, respectively.

Toni Keranen (85.27m) from Finland was the fourth athlete to surpass the automatic qualification mark of 84m.

Jena had secured an automatic place at the Olympics with her silver medal throw of 87.54m at the Asian Games in October last year.

After that, he surpassed the 80m mark in just one of the six competitions prior to Tuesday.