By Aayush Kataria
Copyright timesnownews
Neeraj Chopra’s title defence at the World Athletics Championship turned to be a nightmare as he finished eighth in the standings at the Japan Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday (September 18). He was knocked out in the fifth round and did not get a sixth and final throw. The 27-year-old started with a throw of 83.56 before registering 84.03m in the second round, which proved to be his longest throw. The Tokyo Olympic gold medalist had a foul throw to follow that before registering 82.75 in the fourth. In the decisive fifth throw, he was red-flagged. Neeraj Chopra’s 21st Century World Record Streak Ends The result marked the first instance in four years that Neeraj has finished a competition without being in the top two. The streak lasted over 26 events, which is the second-longest in history, only behind his coach Jan Zelenzy. The streak had started at the same venue on 7th August 2021 (1503 days ago) when he won the gold medal in the Olympic Games. The last instance of Neeraj finishing outside the top two in an event was in the 2021 Kuortane Games on 26th June 2021 (1545 days ago). However, Neeraj’s streak of 26 is a 21st-century world record, having gone past Sergey Makarov in the Diamond League final last month. NameNumber of eventsEventsJan Zelenzy3315th September 1991-12 July 1994Neeraj Chopra267th August 2021 – 28th August 2025Sergey Makarov2525th January 2002- 9th August 2003Neeraj Chopra’s 2566 Day Streak Ends This is also the first time in seven years that Neeraj has failed to finish outside the top three in an event. The last instance of the same happening was in 2018 at the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava on 9th September, 2018 (2566 days ago) when the Indian did not finish on the podium in any event after securing 6th place. Since then, he has taken part in a total of 33 events. Neeraj Chopra At World Athletics Championship 2025 Highlights This is only the second time in his career that Neeraj has not won a medal in a major event. The only other instance was the 2017 World Championships in London, when he finished 15th. Since then, he missed the 2019 edition due to injury and later won a silver medal in 2022 and gold in 2023 while securing gold and silver in the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. This means this was the first instance of him making the final and not getting on the podium in the World Championships or Olympics.
