Annu Rani finishes seventh

National record holder Annu Rani finished seventh with 61.12m in the women’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships on Friday. She had posted an identical mark while finishing eighth at the last Worlds in Doha in 2019.

Rani, who was competing in her third Worlds and has a personal best of 63.82m which came in Jamshedpur in May, had just one 60m-plus throw in her series. She opened with 56.18 and, after the 61.12 in her next effort, came close to the 60m mark again in her fifth attempt (59.98).

Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia retained the title with a world-leading 66.91m but China’s Liu Shiying, the Olympic, Asian Games and Asian champion, was fourth with 63.25m.