BHUBANESWAR: A day after shattering multiple Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra's meet record, Himanshu Jakhar from Haryana bettered his own mark (80.38m) to win gold in the U18 men's javelin throw final on Day 2 of the National Junior Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium on Saturday.
The silver and bronze medals were claimed by Krishna Chandra of Madhya Pradesh and Dharanidharan T of Tamil Nadu with 73.07m and 73.05m marks respectively.
On Friday's qualifying round, Jakhar broke Chopra's record (76.50m) set in 2014 at Vijayawada.
Although happy with the medal and the record breaking feat, he was not satisfied with his throws. During practice, I had crossed 84m several times. I expect that I will rewrite the national record of 81.75m (set by Rohit Yadav in 2019).
Earlier this year, Himanshu won the Junior Asian title in Saudi Arabia with a mark of 67.57m.
He also got the opportunity to train under Chopra in South Africa earlier.
Recounting the experience, he said, “It’s definitely helped me a lot to develop my throw and techniques. Neeraj bhai is the most elite athlete of our country, he is so humble towards other athletes that made him such an international athletic icon. He advises me to be disciplined both on and off the ground.”
Himanshu’s coach Arvind Kumar said, "Two years ago, he joined to train under me, while he threw more than 60 metres. With his dedication and determination, he added 20m within two years. I expected that he would create a new National (junior) record here."