PARIS: Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem has won his country's first Olympic medal since 1992 after an Olympic record throw of 92.97 meters (just over 305 feet).
Nadeem landed his record effort with his second throw, to take the lead at the halfway point of the javelin competition at the Stade de France. His nearest challenger, India's Neeraj Chopra, was more than three meters further back.
Germany's Julian Weber, another medal hopeful, was in sixth place at the halfway point.
The Olympic record had stood since the 2008 Beijing Games, when Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway threw 90.57 meters on his way to defending his Olympic title.
Nadeem, who won the Commonwealth Games title in 2002, finished second to Chopra at the most recent world championships in Budapest last year.
Pakistan has never won an Olympic gold or silver medal in individual events. The country's last Olympic medal came at the Barcelona Games in 1992 in field hockey, the only sport in which Pakistan has ever tasted Olympic glory.
