As it happened: Arshad Nadeem qualifies for men's javelin final at the World Athletics Championships

We’ll be back tomorrow with another live blog for the men’s javelin final, which starts at 7:23pm (3:23pm PST).

Do check in to follow all the action, live from Tokyo.

Till then, you can catch up on the day’s events below.

Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who made Olympic history last year with a record-breaking performance, now stands at the brink of another challenge: the pursuit of a world title.

His journey hasn’t been smooth — a stubborn calf injury pushed him into surgery and rehabilitation in the UK, and he’s been training under difficult conditions at home while planning to spend time abroad for better preparation.

You can read his interview, conducted by Dawn.com’s Anushe Engineer, as we wait for tomorrow’s final, here:

If any of you are in your thirties, just know that you’re old. At least that’s what Czech Jakub Vadlejch called himself when he spoke to World Athletics after the event.

“I’m already an older guy in the field, so I skipped the third attempt,” the 34-year-old said, adding that he “felt fantastic” tonight.

“I have not felt as good as this in qualification for quite a long time. I’ve had the least ideal season possible. Maybe I gained more on the mental side because qualifications are more about your head.

“It is very difficult — there are 36 great throwers all wanting to get to the final, and 25 are at the level to get there. I will do everything to add more metres in the final, I will even throw myself into pieces,” he said.

“My memories of this stadium and what happened on that night at the [Tokyo 2021] Olympic Games when Neeraj won — it was pure magic.”

We’ve got some wisdom from one of the older competitors in the field — Kenya’s Julius Yego. The 36-year-old ranks thirds in the heats and was a silver medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

“I am really excited about the globalisation of javelin throwing because it is no longer centered in one place. It used to be a traditionally eastern European competition.

“But since I won (the world title) in 2015, we’ve seen athletes from different parts of the world winning major championship. Anderson Peters [Grenada], Arshad Nadeem [Pakistan] and Neeraj Chopra [India] are some of those winning major championships,” he said.

“This is good for javelin and good for sport in general. I am really excited to compete with them tomorrow. Despite my age, I feel strong again and happy to compete with the younger generation of throwers.”

Tomorrow’s final really will be one for the history books as, for the first time ever, there’s 12 men from 11 different nationalities covering five continental areas, World Athletics shared on social media shortly after the event.

Anderson Peters was just as surprised with his throw as we were.

Below are his comments to World Athletics shortly after the qualifiers.

“The plan was to qualify with just one throw and be done with it. Unfortunately, my first throw was six cm short of a big qualification, so I was forced to do a second one.

“I didn’t feel I had to do it but I did not expect to be throwing 89m right now,” he said.

“I try to train in different places in Europe. This time I was in Poland and the results were very good. My favourite place to train is Portugal due to it having similar weather conditions to the Caribbean. Everyone in the final will be going for a world title, but I’ll be going for my third. The only person to have won three world titles is the great Jan [Zelezny].

But there’s still more to come in this space, so keep an eye out in just a bit for quotes from the athletes themselves.

UK-based journalist Murtaza Ali Shah has posted a video of Arshad Nadeem’s final throw in the men’s javelin qualifier.

It was Arshad’s last throw that booked him a spot in the final after an early scare that saw two initial attempts falling well short.

Grenada’s Anderson Peters is top ranked after today’s qualifiers. His monstrous season’s best throw of 89.53 is far ahead of the field, although Germany’s Julian Weber also had a powerful throw of 87.21m.

Julius Yego also had a season’s best throw of 85.96m and ranks third, while Poland’s David Wegner threw a personal best 85.67m.

There must be a lot going on in Arshad’s mind right now following the near-exit from the championships.

But at the moment, he’s sitting in the athletes’ waiting area as the third round is ongoing.

He was also stretching on the track after his throw.

WHAT A COMEBACK!

The Olympic champion shows he knows how to throw a big one when it matters the most. His 85.28m throw on his third attempt put him through to tomorrow’s final and is also his season’s best.

The 28-year-old underwent surgery this June for a persistent calf injury. He spent a few weeks in London in rehab before flying back to Lahore to train for the world championships.

Arshad has been injury-prone throughout his career. It was little known that he had a calf injury while competing in Paris last year where he won Olympic gold.

He’s one of four Indians competing in the men’s javelin throw at the world championships.

The 29-year-old narrowly snuck into the finals by 22cm.

He’s the Pan Am Games winner in 2023.

The crowd roared and then gasped as Peters’ javelin struck the ground well beyond the yellow qualifying line marked at 84.50m.

A remarkable qualifier throw for the 27-year-old.

Usually, Arshad’s throws get better with each attempt. But tonight , his throws have gone from bad to worse.

He still hasn’t qualified for the final and looks far from qualifying through the top 12 system.

He has one more throw to qualify for tomorrow’s final.

The field is lead by Kenya’s Julius Yego, followed by Anderson Peters of Grenada, who finished third at the Paris Olympics, and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage.

His opening attempt of 82.44m wasn’t enough to make it to the final.

He becomes the third athlete to directly qualify for the final. His season’s best coming in was 84.51m.

He threw a 84.44m on his first attempt.