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It was a forgettable outing for defending champion Neeraj Chopra at the World Championships men's javelin throw finals on Thursday as he finished a dismal eighth. Debutant compatriot Sachin Yadav outperformed him by recording his personal best performance to secure a creditable fourth spot.

 

On a day when no thrower managed to cross 90m, Chopra exited after the fifth and penultimate round with a best effort of 84.03m. The 27-year-old fouled the fifth attempt to bow out of the competition at the same venue where he had won an Olympic gold four years ago.

 

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Only the top six athletes compete in the sixth and final round, and it was surprisingly Yadav who ended up in the top bracket. With his best throw of 86.27m in the very first attempt, he outperformed not just Chopra but also German star Julian Weber (86.11m) and Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (82.75m), among others.

 

Keshorn Walcott (88.16m) of Trinidad and Tobago won the gold, while Grenada's Anderson Peters (87.38m) got silver and Curtis Thompson (86.67m) settled for bronze. Nadeem, a silver-medallist in the previous edition, was among the first set of throwers to crash out in the fourth round.

 

Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist, began with 83.65m, which put him at fifth place, and improved upon it with 84.03m before fouling his third throw. He dropped to eighth after the second round and remained there at the halfway stage. His fourth throw measured 82.86m, which meant that he had to better the 85.54m throw by Kenya's Julius Yego in his fifth throw to remain in contention.

 

But Chopra fouled his fifth attempt to end his challenge on a disappointing note. After releasing his spear, he fell down sideways and crossed the curved line only to be red-flagged. He removed his waist belt and buried his face in it for a while before regaining composure.

 

It was perplexing that Chopra, known for his consistency, could not even cross the 85m mark in five attempts. Before Thursday, his worst was 82.27m when he won the gold at the Federation Cup in May 2024. Chopra had breached the 90m mark with a 90.23m throw in the Doha Diamond League in May, but since then he has been on the downslide.