India’s Paris Olympic silver medalist Neeraj Chopra has been selected as the world’s best male javelin thrower in 2024 by the world-renowned American magazine ‘Track and Field News’. Chopra, 27, who lost to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem for Olympic gold last August, topped the 2024 rankings published by the California magazine, ahead of two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada. . Nadeem has competed in only one event outside of the 2024 Olympics and finished fifth with a monster throw of 92.97m against Chopra’s 89.45m. He finished fourth in the Paris Diamond League.
Founded in 1948, the magazine bills itself as the ‘bible of sports’ and publishes world and US rankings every year. The magazine is considered the authority on athletics around the world.
Chopra also ranked first in the 2023 men’s javelin throw rankings.
He failed to win a Diamond League event in 2024 and finished second in Doha, Lausanne and Brussels. His only major win last year came at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland.
“The frontrunners for the No. 1 spot, Neeraj Chopra vs. 2022 winner Anderson Peters, were also less clear: Chopra was 3-2 ahead of Peters despite not having a DL win,” the magazine wrote.
“Peters has three wins on the DL, giving the Indians a razor-thin edge for a better Paris ranking,” he added.
Peters, also 27, placed third behind Nadeem and Chopra at the Paris Olympics. He won three DL events in 2024 in Lausanne, Zurich and Brussels.
Of Nadim, the magazine wrote, “What do you do with an Olympic gold medalist who competed just one more time and finished fourth?” It ranked 6th in the all-time rankings.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
