Neeraj Chopra named world’s best male javelin thrower in 2024; Arshad Nadeem in 5th place despite Olympic gold

Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem won silver and gold medals at the 2025 Paris Olympics

Photo: AP

India Paris Olympic Games silver medal Neeraj Chopra was named the world’s best male javelin thrower in 2024 by the world-renowned American magazine “Track and Field News”.

Chopra, 27, beaten by Pakistanis Arshad Nadeem for the Olympic gold medal in August last year, overtook two-time world champion Anderson Peters, from Grenada, to first place in the 2024 rankings published by the Californian magazine.

Nadeem was ranked fifth as he only competed in one event in 2024 apart from the Olympics where he produced a monster throw of 92.97m compared to Chopra’s 89.45m. He finished fourth in Paris Diamond League.

Founded in 1948, the magazine, which presents itself as “The Bible of Sport”, publishes world and American rankings each year. The magazine is considered an authority in global athletics circles.

Chopra was also first in the 2023 men’s javelin throw rankings.

He did not win any Diamond League events in 2024, finishing second in Doha, Lausanne and Brussels. His only major victory last year came at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland.

“Reigning leader Neeraj Chopra vs. 2022 winner Anderson Peters for first place was also unclear. Chopra had no DL wins, but was narrowly 3-2 ahead of Peters,” wrote the magazine.

“Peters, for his part, won three victories in DL. A tiny advantage over the Indian for his best place in Paris,” he adds.

Peters, also 27, finished third behind Nadeem and Chopra at the Paris Olympics. He had won three DL events in 2024 – in Lausanne, Zurich and Brussels.

Regarding Nadeem, the magazine wrote: “What do you do with an Olympic gold medalist who has only competed in one other competition and finished 4th in that one?

“So it was decided that Arshad Nadeem could not be higher than No. 5 even though he climbed to No. 6 on the all-time list.”