Tokyo, September 17, 2025: Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem secured a place in the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo with a best effort of 85.28 metres on Wednesday.
Nadeem opened with 76.99m, followed by 74.17m, before delivering his decisive throw in the third attempt to comfortably advance to Thursday’s medal round.
From his group, Grenada’s Anderson Peters (85.96m) and Kenya’s Julius Yego (89.53m) also qualified, while USA’s Curtis Thompson booked his spot with 84.72m.
India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra progressed with ease, clearing the automatic qualification mark of 84.50m on his first attempt with 84.85m in Group A, before further strengthening his form in Group B with 86.56m. Ranked world No. 2, Chopra remains among the top contenders, alongside Germany’s Julian Weber — the current world No. 1 — who registered 87.21m after a shaky start.
Other notable qualifiers include Poland’s Dawid Wegner with a personal best of 85.67m, while Jakub Vadlejch (84.11m) and Keshorn Walcott (83.93m) remain in contention. In total, 12 of 37 athletes will advance to the final, either by surpassing the automatic qualifying mark or ranking among the top best distances.
At the last World Championships in Budapest in 2023, Chopra became India’s first world champion with 88.17m, while Nadeem took silver with 87.82m. The rivalry intensified at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Nadeem struck gold and Chopra claimed silver.
The javelin final in Tokyo now sets up another highly anticipated showdown between the South Asian greats.
