Eugene: India's Annu Rani finished seventh in the women's javelin throw final with a below-par effort of 61.12m at the World Championships here. The national record holder had qualified for the final as eighth best in the qualification round with a throw of 59.60m.
Defending champion Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia won the gold with a best and world leading throw of 66.91m. American Kara Winger took the silver with a last round effort of 64.05m while Japan's Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won a surprise bronze with her best throw of 63.27m. Olympic champion Shiying Liu of China was fourth with a best performance of 63.25m.
Following is step by step information of how the event went about:
Annu Rani’s attempts: 56.18, 61.12, 59.27, 58.14, 59.98, 58.70
Sixth attempt: The last one came at 58.70m. She loses shot at podium finish. Although, she did move from 8th to 7th.
Fifth attempt: Annu Rani throws 59.98m in fifth attempt. She stays at 7th.
Fourth attempt: 58.14m in the fourth round. No significant improvement thus far post second throw.
Third attempt: Annu Rani throws 59.27m. She is at 6th.
Here is some trivia for our readers
In 2019, Annu's best throw was 61.12 at the World Athletics Championships. Back then, she finished eighth.
Second attempt: An absolute smasher in the second attempt where he best in the World Championship came. She has finally crossed the 60m mark. 61.12, it is. Her effort puts her in the top 8. Will she be able to create history for India?
First attempt: Annu came up with a throw of 56.18. The first attempt was well below her personal best and she would look to touch at least 60 if she has any shot at clinching a medal for India.
What happened in the qualifications round of this World Championship?
Annu qualified for the World Championships finals after coming up with a throw of 59.60m on her last attempt on Thursday. She was on the verge of an early exit after starting with a foul throw and then managing a below par 55.35m in her second attempt but managed to send her spear to 59.60m, which was well below her season's best but good enough to push her into the finals.
How did she qualify for the finals?
She finished fifth in Group B qualification round and made it to the finals as eighth best across two groups on the fifth day of competitions.
Her season's and personal best
63.82m.
Here's some background at earlier World Championships
This was Rani's second appearance at the World Championship final. She had earlier featured in Doha in 2019 where she came up with the best throw of 61.12m. Earlier, she could not qualify for the finals in 2017 in London after finishing 10th in her qualification group.
