New Delhi: Sumit Antil solidified his legacy as India’s most successful track and field para-athlete by clinching his third consecutive World title here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday.

Despite battling severe shoulder pain, Sumit Antil secured his third F64 Javelin World title with a Championship record-breaking throw of 71.37m.

“I’m very happy with the championship record despite the injury. A couple of days ago, I woke up with a sore shoulder, but thanks to my physio, I was able to compete,” Sumit told the media after winning gold.

Sumit, however, was not fully satisfied with his performance as he was targeting a 75m+ throw and a new world record, but the shoulder niggle limited his throwing prowess on the night of the finals.

“I was feeling good and even my warm throws were going well, but suddenly a severe pain started in my neck area after one such throw, but it’s good that I could break the championship record if not the World Record,” he added.

‘I was fighting with myself’

Despite experiencing discomfort, Sumit Antil had a rather comfortable outing in the final as the second-best performer in his category was 23 meters short of the Indian’s mark.

Simply put, Sumit’s opening throw of 65.59m was more than sufficient to secure the gold medal.

One of the reasons for the disparity was that World Para Athletics’ governing body decided to have two separate Javelin events for F44 and F64 categories, which were previously a combined category in the past few editions.

“It was an organizing committee decision to decide what categories to merge, but there was one thing that today, the second competitor was way behind, so I was just fighting with myself,” Sumit said, while addressing the lack of competition in the final.

Sumit also mentioned that he was just looking for his personal best after confirming his gold medal.

“The first two throws I was just trying to set some good mark by which I will confim my gold medal, and then in third throw I go all out, which actually didn’t happen due to injury, but I’m happy to get 70m throw in the end.”

Targeting Asian Para Games

Sumit Antil, who has won every major title at least twice, including his third straight World Para Athletics Championship, is now targeting a second gold at the 2026 Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

“I aim to just continue to improve and debunk those theories that a para athlete can’t throw big distances and want to throw 75m or 80m throws at least once in my career,” he said, citing his long-term ambitions.

The World Para-Athletics Championships 2025 was Sumit’s last tournament of the year, and he will now work on his rehabilitation and spend some time with the family before returning to the field next year.

” First, I will check what the problem is with my hand, and will then return next year. I will start the season a bit early in February, as there are Asian Games next year.”

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Sumit has faced injury concerns. According to javelin maestro, after winning the Paris Paralympic title last year, he had felt that something was amiss with his back.

“I strengthen my core as my back injury has no solution; I can just do strengthening. Also, I did a few technical changes so that I could stop myself from putting too much burden on my back.”

The 27-year-old javelin star, already a legend with multiple accolades, now begins his third Paralympic cycle with the same passion that marks him as one of the greatest Indian para-athletes.