Rising athletics star Neeraj Chopra scripted history by smashing the junior world record in javelin throw en route to a gold medal with a stunning effort of 86.48 m at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

After a solid opening round throw of 79.66 m, the 18-year-old Haryana broke the record in his second round on the penultimate day of the competitions on Saturday night, nearly two metres beyond earlier world under-20 record of 84.69 m, which was in the name of Latvia’s Zigismunds Sirmais.

Chopra, a student of DAV College in Chandigarh, in the process, became the first ever Indian to hold a world record in athletics (junior and senior). He also broke the existing national senior record of 82.23 m in the name of Rajinder Singh while also becoming the first Indian track-and-field athlete to have won a gold in a World Championships.

Rio Olympics-bound Seema Punia had won a gold in women’s discus throw in the 2000 World Under-20 Championships but she was stripped of the medal after testing positive for a banned substance. Chopra’s achievement was all the more stunning as his effort put him at the eighth spot among senior season leaders though he could not make it to the Olympics. The entry standard for Rio men’s javelin was set at 83m and the deadline was July 11.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW