New Delhi: India's javelin thrower Annu Rani on Thursday qualified for the finals of the World Athletics Championships with a 59.60m javelin throw in her last attempt here on Thursday.
With this, Rani has become the first Indian to make it to back-to-back javelin finals at the world meet after her 8th-place finish in Doha in 2019.
Notably, she could have not qualified for the championships as her first attempt was 'fouled' while she managed to throw the javelin only 55.35m in her second attempt. However, she finally managed to throw the javelin 59.60m which was good enough to qualify for the finals.
The 29-year-old national record holder did not reach the 60m but will have a chance to improve on her performance in Saturday's finals. His personal best of the season is 63.82m.
The 12 best performers of 62.50m or 62.50m in two categories qualified for the finals. Only three competitors managed to achieve the automatic qualifying mark of 62.50 metres.
Annu, who is participating in the World Championships for the third time, has qualified for the finals of the event for the second time in a row. She finished eighth in the final with a best throw of 61.12 meters at the previous World Championships in Doha in 2019.
Meanwhile, in the women's 5000m, Parul Chaudhary failed to make it to the semi-finals, finishing 17th in heat number two with a time of 15 minutes 54.03 seconds and 31st overall.
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will compete in Group A of the men's javelin qualification round on Friday.
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