Seventh Heaven: Off-colour Annu Rani takes home seventh finish at World Championships

Eugene (USA), July 23

India’s Annu Rani finished seventh in the women’s javelin throw final with an effort of 61.12 metres at the World Championships here on Friday.

Competing in her second consecutive final, Rani achieved her best of the day in her second attempt but failed to cross the 60m mark in the other five throws. Her record read 56.18m, 61.12m, 59.27m, 58.14m, 59.98m and 58.70m.

This was seemingly a below-par performance by the 29-year-old’s standards for she has a season’s and personal best of 63.82m — an effort that would have handed her a medal here.

The national record holder had qualified for the final as eighth-best in the qualification round with a throw of 59.60m.

Defending champion Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia retained the title with a best throw of 66.91m. American Kara Winger took silver with a last-round effort of 64.05m, while Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi won a surprise bronze with a best throw of 63.27m.

This was Rani’s third appearance at the event. She had finished eighth in the final with a best throw of 61.12m in the last edition, held in Doha in 2019. She could not qualify for the final in 2017 in London after finishing 10th in her qualification group.

On Sunday, all eyes will be on Neeraj Chopra as he seeks to add a World Championships medal to the Olympics gold he won in Tokyo last year. –