Neeraj Chopra Can Make History, if he wins Both Olympic and World Championships

India's javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished his day with one throw and qualified for the Sunday finals. History is waiting. No one has worn the Olympic and World Championship medals around their necks simultaneously since 2009.

Neeraj Chopra is making long distances look simple in a back-breaking sport where the smallest imbalance in the alignment of the joints, limbs, and torso can cause injury, finding the ideal balance between strength and flexibility is crucial, the search for precise technique is a lifelong quest, and the body is subjected to extreme force when throwing the javelin.

Early risers might have also missed seeing Chopra throw in a flash. The 24-year-old Olympic champion, wearing a sky blue uniform, required less than a half-minute to secure his place in the World Championships final with a throw of 88.39 metres at around 5:30 am on Friday.

Instead of falling at the scratchline's edge as he usually does, he just used his palms to break the fall. It only required one toss. The automatic qualifying distance of 83.50 metres caused little anxiety.

The Olympic silver medalist from the Czech Republic, Jakub Vadlejch, was getting ready as Chopra was settling down and anticipating his first-ever World Championship final.

Since taking home the World Junior gold medal six years ago, Chopra has spoiled Indian fans by placing in practically every competition he has attended, with the historic Olympic gold serving as a turning point for Indian track and field. If Chopra's attempt to add the World Championship gold to his resume is successful at Eugene, he will rank among the best athletes in history.

He will hold the gold medal in both the Olympics and the World Championships, making him the first male javelin thrower to do so since Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in 2009. Prior to Thorkildsen, the illustrious Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic held both illustrious gold medals concurrently.

Chopra appeared unfazed early on Thursday, just as in the Tokyo Olympics semifinal qualifiers. He had hurled 86.65 metres in Tokyo to qualify for the final. His Friday morning throw of 88.+ metres fell 1.5 metres short of his 89.94 metre national record. Even though Chopra later claimed that he wanted to finish the job with a huge throw in the first round, he would not have gone all out during qualification. He simply had to surpass the automatic qualifying mark to qualify. He can push harder in the final based on the fact that he was able to touch 88 metres.