The much-anticipated meeting between Javelin stars Neeraj Chopra and Alshad Nadeem is confirmed as Olympic gold medalists face each other at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Japan.
India’s Chopra and Pakistan’s Nadeem qualified for the men’s javelin final on Thursday.
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Here’s what you need to know about the event:
What time does Javelin Final have to do with Arshadnadeem and Nee Rajchopra?
The finals begin on Thursday at 10:23 GMT.
Where is the Javelin Finals at the World Athletics Championships?
Japan National Stadium in Tokyo holds athletics championships.
Which athletes competed in the Javelin Finals?
Twelve athletes will be taking part in the finals.
The final start list includes:
Julian Weber (Germany) Anderson Peters (Grenada) Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) Neeraj Chopra (India) Julius Yego (Kenya) Curtis Thompson (USA) Cameron Mantery (Australia) David Wegner (Poland) Sachin Yadav (India) Roumash Saranga Pazab (Shri Tankavage) Keshaun Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago)
How does the certification process work?
All competing athletes must undergo a qualifying round, also known as the Heat.
At the World Athletics Championship, athletes with throws above 84.5 meters (277.23 feet) entered the finals directly, bringing their first seven spots to the table. The other five qualified based on the best throw of the rest.
The number of athletes in the contest was 37, divided into two heats, A and B.
Did Chopra and Nadeem compete against each other in the qualifying round?
no. Chopra was placed in heat a and Nadeem was placed in B.
Who is the top ranked male javelin athlete?
Weber in Germany is a top-ranked Javelin athlete followed by Chopra and Peters.
Walcott in Trinidad and Tobago is in fourth, while Yego in Kenya is in fifth.
What is the prize money for the Javelin Final?
The winner will win $70,000, while the second-placed athlete will be awarded $35,000, while the third-placed finisher will win $22,000.
Why isn’t Arshad Nadeem ranked?
Rankings for global track and field are achieved by collecting points in various rankings of WA competitions throughout the athletics season.
Nadeem is unable to compete in most WA competitions, primarily due to financial constraints, and has not scored enough points to rank in the world’s best.
Who is Arshad Nadeem?
Nadeem came out of a small village near Mian Channu city in southern Punjab. It is approximately 300km (186 miles) southwest of the major Pakistan city of Lahore.
Nadeem, the third of seven brothers, grew up in a family where he struggled to achieve his goals. His father, Muhammad Ashraf, was a retired construction worker and the sole profiter.
As a child, Nadeem towered over his classmates. By the time he was 14, he was almost six feet tall.
Cricket was his first love. “I was once a very good bowler and I was in many tournaments,” Nadeem told Al Jazeera in 2024.
His first international outing as a Javelin Slower came at India’s 2016 South Asian Games.
Nadeem entered the tournament with a niggle on his throw elbow, managed a 78.33m (257ft) throw and won his first international medal, Bronze, with Chopra secured gold.
He continued to collect more local medals. He then sat the world and looked at the Parisiolmín 2024, where he broke Olympic records and won Pakistan’s first athletics medal in history.
Who is Neeraj Chopra?
The trip to Chopra’s top wasn’t easy either. Young Neeraj, who grew up in Chandra village in Haryana in northern India, was regularly bullied by his weight. By the age of 11, he was already 80kg (176 pounds). At that point, his father suggested joining a local gym.
There he first took up track and field, and Javelin quickly became his favorite discipline.
“I really liked Javelin, but I especially loved how it flew, but I also saw a lot of videos of Jan Zelesny, the world record holder in the Czech Republic. So I really liked his technique and competitive attitude.”
By the age of 25, Chopra had won the Olympic and world titles.
Chopra’s gold at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo was also his country’s first Olympic gold in athletics.
What is Neeraj Chopra’s personal best throw?
The Indian athlete landed a 90.23m (296.03ft) throw in the Doha Diamond League on May 16th.
What is Arshad Nadeem’s personal best throw?
Nadeem broke the Olympic record on August 8, 2024 with a 92.97 metre (305.02 feet) throw at the Parisian Games.
How many medals did Neeraj Chopra win?
The 27-year-old collected the next medal:
Olympics: Gold (2020), Silver (2024) World Athletics Championships: Gold (2023), Silver (2022) Asian Athletics Championships: Gold (2017) Commonwealth Games: Gold (2018) Asian Games: Gold (2018, 2022) South Asia Games: Gold (2019)
How many medals did Arshad Nadeem win?
Nadeem’s tally includes:
Olympics: Gold (2024) World Athletics Championships: Silver (2023) Commonwealth Games: Gold (2022) Asian Athletics Championships: Gold (2025) Asian Games: Bronze (2018) South Asia Games: Gold (2019), Bronze (2016)
Are you a friend of Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra?
In the past, South Asian athletes have spoken out by lending support to each other despite national relations.
After the 2023 World Athletics Championship Finals, Silver Medal winner Nadeem was pleased with Chopra’s gold medal and said both countries finished on the podium.
Medals were handed out and the athletes celebrated on the track, Chopra asked Nadeem to take a photo. They then stood nearby, with arms around each other.
The encouragement and gratitude were exchanged between Chopra, who won Olympic Gold in Tokyo 2021, and Nadeem, who bagged gold in Paris in 2024, rendering both social media darling and unusual cross-border friendship faces.
What happened between Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra?
Following the air and military conflict between India and Pakistan in May, Chopra said it would be difficult to maintain the same friendly relations as Nadeem.
“It’s not like a recent escalation,” Chopra told Al Jazeera on May 15th.
“I didn’t have a very deep friendship with him, but we always had respect for each other,” he added.
Following the four-day conflict in May, Chopra faced a fierce social media backlash to invite Nadeem to the May 24 Neeraj Chopra Classic Javelin event held in India.
The invitation was extended prior to the attack and was rejected by Nadeem, citing preparations for the Asian Athletics Championships from May 27-31 in Korea.
Chopra’s event of the same name was ultimately postponed in the wake of a cross-border conflict, but not before the 27-year-old Indian athlete issued a statement on April 25, saying Nadeem’s participation in the competition was “completely out of question.”
