Defending champion Neeraj Chopra reached the men’s javelin throw final of the World Championships after clearing the automatic qualification mark of 84.50m in his very first throw on Wednesday. The 27-year-old two time Olympic-medallist sent his spear to a distance of 84.85m in his first throw in the Group A of the qualification round.

In fact, Chopra was the first thrower and he packed up after making it to the final. Those who touch the automatic qualifying mark of 84.50m or the best 12 finishers will qualify for the final round to be held on Thursday.

Chopra was clubbed with German star Julian Weber, who also qualified with a throw of 87.21m, Keshorn Walcott, Jakub Vadlejch and Sachin Yadav in the 19-man Group A qualification round on Wednesday.

Also read: Neeraj Chopra wins NC Classic with 86.18m throw

The 18-strong Group B will feature Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, Anderson Peters, Julius Yego, Luiz Da Silva, Rohit Yadav, Yashvir Singh and rising Sri Lankan star Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, among others.

In the last edition in Budapest, Chopra had thrown 88.17m to win the gold, while Nadeem (87.82m) and Vadlejch (86.67m) had secured silver and bronze, respectively.

Chopra will aim to become the third male javelin thrower in history to defend the World Championships title. Czech legend Jan Zelezny (1993, 1995), who is now Chopra’s coach, and Peters (2019, 2022) are the other two who have won World Championships gold two consecutive times.

Chopra is set to face Nadeem for the first time after the 2024 Paris Olympics as he seeks to avenge his second-place finish in the last Olympics. Nadeem had won gold in Paris with a throw of 92.97m, while Chopra settled for silver with 89.45m.