World Athletics Championships Final Day Highlights: Neeraj is champion of the world, Parul secures Olympic qualification

One medal for India in these championships and that is gold courtesy Neeraj Chopra. He is now the reigning Olympic and World champion and he has practically won everything an athlete in his sport can possibly win. In one way, it is good that he has not gone past the 90m mark. That leaves something for him to dream and work towards. In another first, three Indians finished in top eight with Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m) taking the fifth and sixth spots respectively. Never before did three Indians finish in top eight of an event in the World Championships.

Parul Chaudhary finished 11th in women's 3000m steeplechase but more importantly, she managed a time of 9:15.31s. That is a new national record for her and also guaranteed qualification to the 2024 Paris Olympics. The men's 4x400m relay team of Anas, Amoj, Ajmal and Rajesh, having already made history by being the first from the country to reach the final with an Asian record smashing run in the heats, finished an incredible fifth. They managed a time of 2:59.92s. They had become the first Indians to run this race in under 3 minutes in the qualification, remember, and now they have done it again. Parul and the relay team's feats may not be what grabs the headlines but today's results is nothing but positive news for Indian athletics. Neeraj has shown that outright success and domination is possible for athletes from this part of the world while Parul, Anas, Amoj, Ajmal and Rajesh have nudged the bar for their country in their respective events. That's it from an incredible championships from us, good night!

A wonderful moment for her war-torn country. 21-year-old Yaroslava Mahuchikh has taken gold medal in women's high jump.

The leaderboard:

Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) - 2.01m - Gold

Eleanor Patterson (Australia) - 1.99m - Silver

Nicola Olyslagers (Australia) - 1.99m - Bronze

Just the most incredible finish here as Netherlands' Femke Bol steals gold with a sensational anchor run. She went from third to first in that final burst, taking it at the finish line. The Netherlands' first gold in this event and it has come in the mother of all close finishes. 

The leaderboard:

The Netherlands 3:20.72s - Gold

Jamaica 3:20.88 - Silver

Great Britain 3:21.04 - Silver

He didn't need to see the javelin once it left his hands. He just knew that he had nailed that one. Neeraj Chopra is arguably the most succesfull Indian athlete of all time already and he is just 25 years old!

Anas started for India, couldn't really nail the turnover and Amoj started off in the second last spot. Ajmal takes the baton and recovers to move up to third last. Ramesh does the anchor run and the Indians have run 2:59.92s. They finish fifth. USA are first, France second and Great Britain third.

The leaderboard: 

United States 2:57.31 - Gold

France 2:58.45 - Silver

Great Britain 2:58.71 - Bronze

Right let's turn our attentio to track where Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh are about to be in action. India are in lane 5.

It doesn't matter. Neeraj Chopra has become the first Indian to win more than one Athletics World Championship medals and the first from his country to win gold at the competition. This man is redefining the meaning of the word ‘success’ for Indians in athletics. 

The leaderboard:

Neeraj Chopra (India) 88.17m - Gold

Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) 87.82m - Silver

Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) 86.67m - Bronze

Nadeem can only manage a throw of 81.86m. Great moment for the Pakistani as well, he wins a historic silver for his country. Now Neeraj throwing his final attempt.

Weber will finish fourth and Vadlejch to take bronze. Now it is between Nadeem and Neeraj for gold.

No improvement for him but he remains in gold medal position. Arshad Nadeem is second, he had a foul in this round, and Jakub Valdejch is third as it stands. Julian Weber is fourth wile Kishore Jena has gone back to fifth. Into the final round of throws now.

She has run the race in 9:15.31s. Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain has won it with a time of 8:54:29s. That also means that she has gone past the entry standard of 9:23.00s for the Paris Olympics.

Kishore Jena throws 84.77m with his fifth attempt and that takes him to fourth. As it stands, there are two Indians and a Pakistani in the top four of the 2023 javelin final at the Worlds. Incredible!

He remains top, no improvement on his second throw yet but he remains in the gold medal position after four rounds. 

87.15m for Nadeem in his fourth attempt. He remains in the silver medal position.

Weber remains third after his fourth round throw comes up to 82.55m. His best remains 85.79m.

Parul Chaudhary is representing India in the women's 3000m steeple final. She had finished fifth in the heats and is the second woman from India to secure a place in the last round of a track event at the World Athletics Championships

Kishore Jena throws 80.19m in his 4th attempt, he stays 7th. Manu, meanwhile, threw a foul and so he remains 5th. 

Wegner, Abdelrahman, Mardare and Herman are knocked out after the first three rounds. The top eight have three more attempts. Neeraj and Nadeem, the top two will go last and second last respectively.

USA's Athing Mu is the Olympic champion and she was the favourite but she has only finished third!

The leaderboard:

Mary Moraa (Kenya) - 1:56.03s - Gold

Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain) - 1:56.34s - Silver

Athing Mu (USA) - 1:56.61s - Bronze

That was better than the best of the rest of the field, until Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem throws 87.82m! As it stands, it is gold for an Indian and a silver for a Pakistani in men's javelin at the 2023 World Championships!

Vadlejch, arguably the biggest challenger for Neeraj, has thrown 83.65m with his third attempt. He is third as it stands thanks to his second throw, Germany's Julian Weber is second with a throw of 85.79 in his second attempt. Neeraj is sailing out in front at the moment.

Just a little peek into what is happening on the track at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest. Norway's Jakob Ingebrigsten has won gold in the men's 5000m.

The leaderboard:

Jakob Ingebrigsten (Norway) - 13:11.30s - Gold

Mohamed Katir (Spain) - 13:11.44s - Silver

Jacob Krop (Kenya) - 13:12.28s - Bronze

And that takes him right to the top of the ladder. Jakub Valdech had gone top with a throw of 84.18m and Neeraj has blasted past that. He cheered looking at his team in the stands as soon as that javelin left his hands. This is looking really good indeed for the Olympic champion. 

Oliver Helander of Finland leads the standings after the first throws are done with an 83.38m throw. Manu is sixth with a throw of 78.44 and Kishore Jena has thrown 75.70m. The Olympic champion Neeraj, meanwhile, has started off with a foul throw. 

Right, here we go then, the athletes are being introduced ahead of the men's javelin throw final. TP Manu is the first Indian in that lineup, right after him comes Kishore Jena. 

The first event to start the final session of these championships is the women's long high jump final. The men's javelin throw final, featuring Neeraj, Manu and Jena starts at 11.45pm IST.