Arshad Nadeem set to compete for gold in World Athletics Championships

Pakistan's star athlete and Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem is set to compete in the final round of the Men's Javelin Throw at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.

This decisive event will feature 12 top athletes, including world No. 1 Julian Weber from Germany and India’s Neeraj Chopra. The final round will commence at 3:23 PM (PST) on Thursday, and all eyes will be on Nadeem as he aims for victory.

According to the start list, each athlete will get six throws to vie for the gold medal.

Weber will take the first throw, followed by Grenada's Anderson Peters. Arshad will take his first throw third in the order, while Chopra will throw immediately after Nadeem (fourth throw).

Nadeem qualified with a throw of 85.28m in his third and final attempt, after earlier efforts of 76.99m and 74.17m. From his group, Peters (85.96m) and Julius Yego (89.53m) from Kenya also advanced, while Curtis Thompson of the USA, who opened with 77.97m, booked his spot with a later throw of 84.72m.

Chopra, a two-time Olympic medalist, needed just one throw to progress. He cleared the automatic qualification mark of 84.50m with a first-attempt throw of 84.85m at the Tokyo National Stadium, setting the tone in Group A.

India’s Sachin Yadav narrowly missed direct qualification with a strong 83.67m, finishing sixth in Group A, but later qualified for the final based on the results of Group B.

At the last World Championships in Budapest in 2023, Chopra made history by becoming India’s first world champion in athletics with a throw of 88.17m, while Nadeem claimed silver with 87.82m.

The tables turned at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Nadeem triumphed with gold, leaving Chopra to settle for silver. Nadeem, the 28-year-old athlete, had captivated the nation by setting a new Olympic record with a throw of 92.97m and led Pakistan to its first track and field gold in decades.