Defending Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the silver medal in the men’s javelin throw at the 2024 Paris Games, with Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem taking gold and setting a new Olympic record in the process.

With his silver, Chopra becomes the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two Olympic medals.

Neeraj, who has a career-best throw of 89.94m, started with a foul on his first attempt. Nadeem too began with a foul with his initial throw but came back with a spectacular 92.97m on his second attempt to break the Olympic record.

Chopra responded with a season-best 89.45m on his second attempt to move into second place. However, he was unable to close down on Nadeem.

The 2020 Olympic gold medallist made just one successful throw, which was enough to secure him the silver, while Grenada’s Anderson Peters took bronze with a throw of 88.54m.

Nadeem’s monster effort, the sixth longest in history, was like a bolt from the blue that stunned the Stade de France.

The earlier Olympic record stood at 90.57m in the name of Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, set during the 2008 Beijing Games.

Nadeem also signed off in style with a closing throw of 91.79m.