Javelin final: Arshad Nadeem, Neeraj Chopra out of medal race, Walcott clinches gold

WEB DESK: Pakistan’s Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem failed to qualify for the top-eight round of the javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships after committing two fouls in his four attempts, ruling him out of the medal race.

India’s Neeraj Chopra, who entered the event as the defending champion, also crashed out of medal contention.

At the championship being held in Tokyo, Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott clinched gold, Grenada’s Anderson Peters bagged silver, while Curtis Thompson secured bronze.

Currently in Tokyo for World Athletics Championship, gold-medalist Arshad Nadeem’s final throw has reached a mere of 82.75m in the finals, bidding adieu to the dream of winning a medal again. Neeraj Chopra, however, has missed his final throw of the gripping event.

Nadeem’s first throw was 82.73m, while opposite him, Neeraj Chopra‘s throw was able to get through 83.65m. Nadeem unfortunately missed his second throw while Chopra improved his earlier throw by just a bit with 84.03m.

This is how the first round looked like:

• Curtis Thompson (USA) 86.67m
• Sachin Yadav (India) 86.27m
• Anderson Peters ( Grenada ) 84.59m
• Neeraj Chopra (India) 83.65m
• Julian Weber (Germany) 83.63m
• Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) 82.73m
• Dawid Wegener (Poland) 77.15m
• Julius Yego (Kenya) 76.58m
• Cameron McEntyre (Australia) 74.39m
• Jakub Vadlejch (Czechia) 78.71m
• Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago) 81.22m
• Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (Sri Lanka) 84.38m

Earlier in the qualifiers yesterday, Nadeem secured a place in the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships 2025 after a tense qualification round in Tokyo.

The 27-year-old from Mian Channu, who won gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, struggled early, recording throws of 76.99m and 74.17m — both well below the automatic qualification mark of 84.50m. His performance left fans anxious, especially in light of his Olympic record throw of 92.97m last year.

Nadeem, however, regained composure on his third attempt, producing a throw of 85.28m to safely advance. The effort also carried symbolic weight, as it eclipsed the 84.85m registered by India’s Neeraj Chopra, the reigning world champion and Olympic rival, by 0.43m.

The qualification result set the stage for another high-profile showdown between Nadeem and Chopra, whose rivalry has drawn international attention since Paris 2024.

Ranked 11th in Group B, Nadeem will now aim to improve further in the final. He previously claimed silver at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest with an 87.82m throw. With momentum regained in Tokyo, Pakistan’s star will be looking to replicate his Olympic heroics on the global stage once again.