Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra once again scripted history as he became the first Indian to win gold at the World Athletics Championships.
The golden boy of Indian Athletics, Neeraj Chopra conquered the world now. The reigning Olympic champion won gold in Javelin Throw with a throw of 88.17m at the 2023 edition of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Achievements of Neeraj Chopra
World Athletics Championships
In 2022, Neeraj Chopra was close to win the gold with a throw of 88.13m. But he came second after Grenada’s Anderson Peters’ threw the javelin to a mammoth distance of 90.54m.
Till now, his silver medal in 2022 was India’s best return from the World Athletics Championshpips after Anju Bobby George won bronze in Women’s Long Jump in 2003.
This year Chopra pipped Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who made a come back from from elbow surgery and a knee injury. While Neeraj won gold, Nadeem produced a throw of 87.82m on his third attempt to win the silver medal and the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch took the bronze with 86.67m throw.
“This was great. After the Olympic gold I really wanted to win the world championships. I just wanted to throw further,” Neeraj Chopra said after his win.
With his first World Championship gold medal, Chopra has completed his trophy cabinet by winning all the major events in Javelin Throw.
Olympic Gold Medal in 2021
Neeraj Chopra is the only Indian to win a gold medal in the Track and Field event at the Olympics. He became the second Indian, after Abhinav Bindra, to win an Olympics gold in an individual event.
Commonwealth Games Gold Medal in 2018
Neeraj Chopra won the Commonwealth Games gold medal at Gold Coast in 2018. He became the first Indian Javelin Thrower to achieve that feat and also the fourth Indian to win an Athletics title at the Commonwealth Games after Milkha Singh in 1958, Krishna Poonia in 2010 and Vikas Gowda in 2014.
Asian Games Gold Medal in 2018
Neeraj Chopra is the first Indian javelin thrower to win an Asian Games gold. In 2018, he shattered his own national record when he threw a distance of 88.06 m at Jakarta to win the gold.
Diamond League Championship in 2022 & 2023
In August 2022, Neeraj Chopra had won the Lausanne leg to win his maiden Diamond League title. A month later, he became the first Indian Diamond League champion after winning the 2022 grand finale in Zurich.
He also won the Diamond League meeting in Doha in May 2023 and the Lausanne League in June 2023.
Other Major Wins
Neeraj Chopra also has won gold medals in the Asian Championships in 2017, the World U20 Championships in 2016 and the South Asian Games in 2016.
