World Athletics C’ship: Defending champion Neeraj storms into final, Weber tops Group A

TOKYO: India’s two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra qualified for the final of the men’s javelin throw event at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo on Wednesday, in his first attempt without breaking much of a sweat.

Neeraj, who is also the defending champion, eclipsed the qualification mark of 84.50m by sending his javelin to a distance of 84.85m and finished third in Group A. His arch-rival, Julian Weber, became the second player to earn a seat in the final with a towering effort of 87.21m.

Poland’s Dawid Wegner finished in the second spot with his personal best attempt of 85.67m and confirmed his seat in the final. Jakub Vadlejch, a strong contender for the gold, missed the automatic qualification mark by a whisker, finishing fourth with a season-best attempt of 84.11m.

Effortless!

Neeraj Chopra seals his spot in the World Championships Final with his very first throw — a massive 84.85m!

The defending champion is now set to go for glory once again.#IndiaInWCHTokyo #IndianAthletics #WCHTokyo25 #AFI pic.twitter.com/scoWTXJzrK

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) September 17, 2025

Sachin Yadav, another Indian, vying for a spot in the final in Group A, improved his initial attempt of 80.16m to 83.67m in his second try and remained in touching distance of reaching the final. He managed 82.63m in his last try and finished sixth in the group.

Neeraj, 27, became the first Indian to secure a World Championships gold medal with a throw of 88.17m in Budapest in 2023. While his Pakistan counterpart, Arshad Nadeem, settled for a silver with a throw of 87.82m.

He is currently ranked world number two and is chasing a hat-trick of medals at the showpiece event. He became India’s first World Championships silver medalist and first male medalist in 2022, and then improved on that milestone with a historic gold at Budapest in 2023.

Neeraj ushered in his season with a win at the Potch Invitational in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in April and followed it up with a very special second-place finish at the Doha Diamond League in May, where he crossed the 90-metre mark for the first time ever, with a throw of 90.23 m.

He also went on to secure a second spot in the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland later that month. He returned to winning ways with back-to-back titles at Paris Diamond League and Ostrava Golden Spike, with best efforts of 88.16m and 85.29m. (ANI)