World Athletics Championships 2022: Javelin thrower Annu Rani finishes seventh in final

Indian Javelin thrower Annu Rani finished at seventh position in the final at the World Athletics Championships held at Oregon, US on Friday.

Rani was not at the most consistent as she was outdone by her opponents. Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber won the gold medal with a 66.91-metre throw while Kara Winger of the US took the silver with the best throw of 64.05 m in her final attempt. Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi settled with bronze in the event with a throw of 63.27 m.

Rani kicked off her campaign in the final with a throw of 56.18 m, after which she was ranked ninth out of the twelve throwers. In her second attempt, she came with an impressive 61.12-metre throw, which pushed her to the sixth position.

However, her third and fourth attempts were not good, as she could only manage throws of 59.27 m and 58.14 respectively, causing her to slip to seventh. Barber took the lead with 66.91 metre.

Rani secured the seventh spot after throws of 59.98m and 58.70 in her final two attempts. Though she could return back with a medal, she has now become only the second Indian woman to have two top eight finishes at the world championships.

Sports Authority of India tweeted, “#Athletics Update’s @Annu_Javelin finishes 7th with her best throw of 61.12m at @WCHoregon22. 2019 edition – 8th; with this she becomes only the 2nd Indian woman after @anjubobbygeorg1 to have two top 8 finishes at #WorldChampionships Great Effort.” 

Rani became the first Indian to make it to back-to-back finals at the World Athletics Championships after finishing with a throw of 59.60 in her final attempt in Oregon. She began the qualification round in Group B with a foul. However, she came up with a throw of 55.35 m later. She saved the best for the last as she made a throw of 59.60 m to make it to the final.

In the group B qualification round, she ended in the fifth position and made it to the final as eighth-best across both groups. The World Athletics Championships 2022 is currently being held in Oregon and will conclude on July 24.