India’s Neeraj Chopra qualified for the men’s javelin throw finals at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Wednesday with a stunning first attempt of 86.65m.

Competing in his first Olympic Games, Chopra took just a few seconds to make it to the final round to be held on Saturday as he sent the spear well past the qualifying mark of 83.50m during the group A qualifications. Finland‘s Lassi Etelatalo also earned a direct qualification with an effort of 84.50m.

The 23-year-old Indian left the javelin arena after his first throw, having secured his place in the final easily. Shivpal Singh, the other Indian in the fray, will present his challenge in Group B, later in the day.

Qualifying performance of 83.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) will advance to the final of the men’s javelin throw. However, these 12 performers will be a compilation of competitors from Group A and B. The Group B qualification round will take place later in the day.

The men’s Javelin throw final will be on August 7 at the Olympic Stadium.

Earlier on Tuesday, another Indian Javelin thrower Annu Rani failed to qualify for the women’s final at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday after an underwhelming show in the Women’s Long Throws Qualification — Group A.

Neeraj’s performance on Saturday will go down as one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics. He finished ahead of gold-medal favourite Johannes Vetter of Germany. He is also a 2017 world champion.

While Neeraj qualified for the final with this very first throw, Vetter struggled in his first two throws before qualifying for the final with a throw of 85.64m.

He had earlier said that Neeraj would find it difficult to beat him in the Olympics.

Before qualifying for the final, the 28-year-old German star came into the Olympics after having seven monster throws of 90m-plus between April and June.