Watch: Neeraj Chopra qualifies for 2024 Olympics, enters World Athletics Championships final with 88.77m throw

The 25-year-old Chopra's qualifying round at the World Athletics Championships 2023 lasted just a few minutes as he sent the spear to his season's and fourth career-best distance, of 88.77m, while automatically qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics by breaching 85.50m.

Budapest/Hyderabad: Olympian Neeraj Chopra qualified for the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships 2023 with his first attempt and season's best throw of 88.77m, topping the qualifying round in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday.

This provided him a direct ticket to enter into the Sunday final, which had the automatic qualifying mark set at 83.00m. The 25-year-old did not take up his next two attempts.

His 88.77m throw saw him breach the Paris 2024 Olympic entry standard in javelin throw. The Paris 2024 Olympics' qualification window for track and field athletes began on July 1, 2023. The entry qualification for the men’s javelin throw event for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games is set at 85.50m.

• On Day 6⃣ of World #Athletics Championships, Golden boy @Neeraj_chopra1 keeps up with our expectations 🥳
  
  The #TokyoOlympics🥇medalist & #TOPSchemeAthlete's very 1⃣st attempt gives us his season's best throw of 88.77m in Men's Javelin Throw Qualifying Event which also breached… pic.twitter.com/Tgt96JmQgM

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  On Day 6⃣ of World #Athletics Championships, Golden boy @Neeraj_chopra1 keeps up with our expectations 🥳
  
  The #TokyoOlympics🥇medalist & #TOPSchemeAthlete's very 1⃣st attempt gives us his season's best throw of 88.77m in Men's Javelin Throw Qualifying Event which also breached… pic.twitter.com/Tgt96JmQgM

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023

  ">

  On Day 6⃣ of World #Athletics Championships, Golden boy @Neeraj_chopra1 keeps up with our expectations 🥳
  
  The #TokyoOlympics🥇medalist & #TOPSchemeAthlete's very 1⃣st attempt gives us his season's best throw of 88.77m in Men's Javelin Throw Qualifying Event which also breached… pic.twitter.com/Tgt96JmQgM

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023

Though the entry standard is one of the criteria for the Olympic qualification process, the National Olympic Committees have the final say. The Committee will have to clear every athlete to become part of the Indian team for the Olympic Games.

Neeraj Chopra struck gold in the Tokyo 2020 games and silver in the 2022 world championships. He holds the national record of 89.94m throw. He achieved his previous season-best of 88.67 at the Doha Diamond League in May.

"I had a couple of good throws during my warm-up and I felt confident that I would make it past the first round," Neeraj Chopra told the media after he qualified for the final.

"I have not competed much this year because I wanted to protect myself from injuries ahead of this competition," Neeraj reasoned, and added, "I’ll give my everything at this year’s world championships final on Sunday."

Other javelins from India in final- India’s 23-year-old Manu DP, who was placed in Group A with Neeraj Chopra, has finished sixth overall across both groups. He qualified for the final with his 81.31m throw.

• History made at World #Athletics Championships 🥳
  
  Following Neeraj's ⭐ performance, upcoming #TOPScheme Athlete Manu DP & the veteran Kishore Jena also qualified for the finals of the Men's Javelin Throw event.
  
  The two finished 6⃣th and 9⃣th respectively with best throws of… pic.twitter.com/wrl8RSVIzT

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  History made at World #Athletics Championships 🥳
  
  Following Neeraj's ⭐ performance, upcoming #TOPScheme Athlete Manu DP & the veteran Kishore Jena also qualified for the finals of the Men's Javelin Throw event.
  
  The two finished 6⃣th and 9⃣th respectively with best throws of… pic.twitter.com/wrl8RSVIzT

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023

  ">

  History made at World #Athletics Championships 🥳
  
  Following Neeraj's ⭐ performance, upcoming #TOPScheme Athlete Manu DP & the veteran Kishore Jena also qualified for the finals of the Men's Javelin Throw event.
  
  The two finished 6⃣th and 9⃣th respectively with best throws of… pic.twitter.com/wrl8RSVIzT

  — SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 25, 2023

Manu, after qualifying, said his target was to breach the 85m mark. His personal best is 84.35m. "I was not thinking about the final but my focus was to achieve a new personal best. I did not have the best warm-ups before the start and I think that affected my performance today," he said.

Kishore Jena, who was competing in Group B, made it to the 12-man final with an 80.55m throw. He stood ninth in the overall standings.