On a historic night, the whole of India was awake at midnight to see the finals of the World Athletics Championship where three javelin throwers, one Steeplechase runner, one a 4*400 team of four men were under the spotlight. India's golden boy, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal after a throw of 88.17m and became the first-ever Indian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championship.
Neeraj Chopra now has won every medal at international level he could have won. The Tokyo Olympics goal medalist already had won the Asian Games Gold medal, CWG gold medal and Asian Championship and South Asian Games gold medal. Neeraj this time better his World Athletics Championship record as last time he had to be satisfied with a silver in 2022.
Kishore Jena with a personal best throw of 84.77m finished in fourth place whereas DP Manu finished at number six with a throw of 84.14m. It was a great result for India as three Indian javelin throwers finished in the top six.
Then came the 3000 Metres Steeplechase final. India's Parul Chaudhary after qualifying for the finals had already stated that the result was "the biggest result" of her life. With an expectation of getting the qualification mark in the final, Parul did not disappoint anyone. The 28-year-old athlete broke the National record with the timing of 9:15.31 and qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024. She finished 11th in the final.
Indian 4*400m male team of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh did a great job by clocking 2:59.92 in the final. They were placed in fifth position after qualifying for the final with a great run, falling just behind the USA.
