Defending champion Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two successive Olympic medals with a silver in men’s javelin throw but the night belonged to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who destroyed competition by setting a new Olympic record for his country’s maiden individual gold at the showpiece. Nadeem managed an astonishing 92.97m in his second attempt to set the bar too high for the rest of the field, including Chopra, who seemed under pressure and managed just one legitimate throw — the silver-winning 89.45m in the second round. It was the season’s best effort from the Indian, topping his qualification throw of 89.34m, but nowhere close to being enough for gold. Nonetheless, Chopra became only the third Indian and the first in track and field to win back-toback individual Olympic medals. Only wrestler Sushil Kumar (2008 and 2012) and shuttler PV Sindhu (2016 and 2021) have won back-to-back Olympic medals. The earlier Olympic record stood at 90.57m in the name of Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, set during the 2008 Beijing Games. Thorkildsen was watching the proceedings from the stands, along with three-time Olympic champion and world record (98.48m) holder Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic. Grenada’s Anderson Peters grabbed the last podium place with an effort of 88.54m while Czech Republic’s Yakub Vadlejch finished fourth (88.50m) and was followed by Kenya’s Julius Yego (SB 87.72). As many as seven athletes went beyond the 86m mark as the competitive field saw three season’s best and an Olympic record. Keshorn Walcot (86.16) from Trinidad and Tobago also celebrated his season’s best show to finish seventh in the 12-man field.
