Arshad Nadeem through to World Athletics Championship final, also qualifies for Paris Olympics

Pakistan’s javelin ace Arshad Nadeem on Friday advanced to the final of the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

With his season-best throw of 86.79 metres, Arshad also qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Earlier, India’s javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra also qualified for the final of the World Athletics Championship with a throw of 88.77m on his first attempt, which also saw him securing a berth for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The qualifying period began on July 1, and mark for the 2024 Olympics in Paris was 85.50m. While Neeraj hit the mark in his first attempt, Arshad took three tries.

He got off to a shaky start, only reaching 70.63 on his first try. However, he returned to contention with an 81.53m throw on his second attempt. Nadeem saved his best for last, recording a throw of 86.79m in his third attempt. The automatic qualifying mark for the final, which will be held on Sunday (August 27), was 83 metres, or the top 12.

Nadeem rose to prominence after finishing fifth in the Tokyo Olympics. Last year, Nadeem finished fifth in the World Championship in the United States. Soon after, he set a Commonwealth Games record with his best throw of 90.18 metres, and won gold in Birmingham.

He then had elbow and left knee surgeries in London, took time to recover, and then competed in the 34th National Games in Quetta in May. Despite failing to demonstrate his fitness there, he won a gold for his departmental team Wapda. He took a heavy blow in this event when he injured his right knee, forcing him to miss the recent Asian Championship in Bangkok.