Neeraj Chopra's unreal consistency on display as he makes it to Worlds javelin final

This season in three competitions, Neeraj Chopra had 10 legal throws and, incredibly seven of them breached the 86m mark

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra made his javelin fly effortlessly into the qualification zone with first attempt to enter his first final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene.

Chopra, running in first in his group, flung the javelin to a massive 88.39m and wrapped up his qualification. (AP)

The qualification cut off for world’s best 28 throwers was set at 83.50m. Chopra, running in first in his group, flung the javelin to a massive 88.39m and wrapped up his qualification. Just like he did in the heat of the Tokyo battle - with just one throw. World champion Anderson Peters, who has shown terrific form this season, was the top thrower in qualification (89.91m), ahead of Chopra.

Only four of the 12 throwers entered the final breaching the qualification mark. It included Jakub Valdejch, Olympic silver medallist (85.31m), and Julian Weber (87.28m) who finished 4th in Tokyo. The rest of the eight throwers joined as the next best performers. India's Rohit Yadav also made at the cut at 11th place with his bets throw of 80.42m.

Chopra’s strength is his remarkable consistency. This season in three competitions, he had 10 legal throws and, incredibly seven of them breached the 86m mark. At the Diamond League in Stockholm where he had his personal best of 89.94m, Chopra’s javelin went beyond 86m four times. The kind of hot form he is in can be gauged by the fact that his smallest legal throw this year is 84.37m.

Before the event, Chopra had spoken about how in his previous World Championships in 2017 he took the qualification round lightly and failed to make the cut. He was a junior world champion then but still raw and inexperienced among the world’s best throwers. His biggest lesson was to give qualification equal importance like the final.

Chopra has now put that ghost to rest. “It was a good start. There is a little bit of zigzag in my run-up. I shook a little bit, but it was a good throw,” said Neeraj Chopra to World Athletics after the qualification round.

He added: “I'll give my 100% in the final. We'll see. Every day is different. We don't know who can throw far on any given day. There are so many throwers in good shape now. Five-six throwers have thrown PBs this year. They are all in excellent shape.”

He is a different beast in competitions and a good, swift qualification will only pump him up even more for the final on Saturday (Sunday morning in India).

The big rivals

Chopra’s biggest competitor in the final will be reigning world champion Anderson Peters, who has shown terrific form this season.

Like Chopra, Peters also qualified with his first throw (89.91m) and topped the field too. Peters has gone past 90m in three competitions this year and has a personal best of 93.07m, which he threw at the Diamond League meet in Doha. Peters and Chopra have already faced each other in three meets, with Chopra edging him twice but finishing second to him at the Diamond League in Stockholm.

Olympic silver medallist Vadlejch felt that Chopra and Peters will the once to beat in the final. Vadlejch, himself has thrown 90.88m in Doha and would be in contention too. Besides there is Oliver Helander and Weber, who have thrown close to 90m this year.

"The surface is pretty good and I believe the final can be very interesting. The final can bring completely different performances.I think Chopra and Peters will really show a big performance. I think 85m is my longest qualification throw ever so it is a good sign of my shape," said Vadlejch of Cech Republic.