Former Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra ended shockingly in 8th place in the men’s javelin final at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo on Thursday night. It was Neeraj’s first finish outside the top two position in over 2500 days. Neeraj who was troubled by back paid managed a best throw of 84.03m to be eliminated from 8th position. The much-vaunted duel against Paris Olympics gold medallist Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan never really transpired as he also finished in 10th place. Neeraj later revealed that the back issue had been hampering him since the beginning of this month but he didn’t want to claim this as the reason for his below-par performance. The Paris Olympics 2024 silver medalist vowed to come back stronger from this disappointment on Friday. “It’s not how I had hoped to end the season at the World Championships in Tokyo. I wanted to step out there and give my best for India despite all the challenges but it wasn’t my night” he posted on ‘X’.   Its not how I had hoped to end the season at the World Championships in Tokyo. I wanted to step out there and give my best for India despite all the challenges but it wasnt my night. Im really happy for Sachin who threw a personal best and almost brought home a medal.… pic.twitter.com/OUcF4Mghrm — Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) September 19 2025 On Friday he complimented debutant Sachin Yadav who outperformed him with a spirited 86.27m throw that saw him finish fourth in the standings. “I’m really happy for Sachin who threw a personal best and almost brought home a medal. Congratulations to @keshorn_walcott @peters_oly and @Curt_Thompson on their well-deserved podium places” he said. The last time the Indian javelin star had finished outside the top three was at the 2018 Continental Cup in Czechia where he was sixth. “I don’t understand what happened today. This has not happened for a long time” Neeraj Chopra admitted after the competition on Thursday. “I had some problems before coming to Tokyo. Two weeks ago I had some back issues but I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was thinking I would still manage to get through it. But javelin is really tough. If you are not in a good shape you’re out.” The gold medal went to Keshorn Walcott (88.16m) of Trinidad and Tobago followed by Grenadas Anderson Peters (87.38m) and American Curtis Thompson (86.67m). The 27-year-old Haryana-lad who is a two-time Olympic medallist promised to come back stronger. “Grateful for all your support this only makes me determined to come back stronger” Neeraj said.