Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra advanced to the men’s javelin throw final at the 2026 Commonwealth Games after registering a best effort of 79.61m in the qualification round on Friday. The Indian secured his place among the 12 finalists after finishing fifth overall in a closely contested field where no athlete managed to breach the automatic qualification mark of 84.00m.
Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage topped the qualification standings with a throw of 82.84m, followed by Grenada’s Anderson Peters (81.29m), South Africa’s Douw Smit (80.64m) and England’s Ben East (80.38m). Chopra’s 79.61m placed him ahead of Australia’s Cameron McEntyre (78.91m) and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (78.63m).
Chopra opened his campaign with a throw of 76.28m before improving to 79.61m on his second attempt. Having already done enough to secure a place in the final, the 28-year-old elected to skip his third and final attempt, conserving energy for the medal round, scheduled for the early hours of August 1, as per Indian Standard Time (IST).
Notably, the qualification round turned out to be lower-scoring than expected, with none of the competitors reaching the automatic qualification distance. As a result, all 12 finalists progressed based on their ranking after the completion of both qualification groups.
India enjoyed a successful outing as all three of its representatives advanced to the final. Rohit Yadav qualified in ninth place with a best throw of 78.37m, while Yash Vir Singh finished 10th with 78.36m. The trio will now look to challenge for medals in the final.
Commonwealth Games Javelin qualifiers result:
| Athlete | Country | Metre |
| Rumesh Pathirage | Sri Lanka | 82.84 |
| Anderson Peters | Grenada | 81.29 |
| Douw Smit | South Africa | 80.64 |
| Ben East | England | 80.38 |
| Neeraj Chopra | India | 79.61 |
| Cameron McEntyre | Australia | 78.91 |
| Arshad Nadeem | Pakistan | 78.63 |
| Keyshawn Strachan | Bahrain | 78.60 |
| Rohit Yadav | India | 78.37 |
| Yash Vir Singh | India | 78.36 |
| Keshorn Walcott | Trinidad | 78.26 |
| Chinecherem Nnamdi | Nigeria | 75.27 |
Julius Yego fails to qualify
The biggest surprise of the qualification round came in the form of Kenya’s Julius Yego. The 2015 world champion and Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist failed to make the cut after finishing 13th with a best throw of 74.50m, missing out on the final by one place.
Pakistanโs Muhammad Yasir, who was in the top 12 for the majority of the game, slipped at the very last moment, with Nnamchi and Strachan qualifying with their final throws.ย
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