With a strong throw of 86.59 meters in Tuesday’s qualification round at Stade de France, Arshad Nadeem easily advanced to the Olympic javelin final, maintaining the nation’s aspirations of winning an Olympic gold.
He is currently ranked fourth going into Thursday night’s finals thanks to his season-best throw, which was the first and only qualifier.
India’s Neeraj Chopra, the current Olympic and world champion, led the race with a tremendous throw of 89.34 meters, which was also a season best.
Grenada’s Anderson Peters, in third place with 88.63 meters, and the current European Champion Julian Weber, in fourth place with 87.76 meters, were positioned between the two South Asian competitors. With one throw, each of the four competitors easily advanced to the final and won the qualifying round.
Kenya’s silver medallist from Rio 2016 completed a season-best throw of 85.97 meters on his third try, good for fifth place in the final standings.
Luiz Maurício da Silva of Brazil was having a field day as he smashed the South American record and set a personal best with a throw of 85.91 meters to finish in sixth position.
Jakub Vadlejch, the powerhouse from the Czech Republic, is ranked seventh in the field with a lone throw of 85.63 meters, quite a distance short of his season-best 88.65 meters.
In his Olympic debut, Finland’s Toni Keranen set a personal and season best with a throw of 85.27 meters, placing him seventh.
Andrian Mardare of the Republic of Moldova threw an 84.13m to finish ninth going into the final, setting yet another season best.
