India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra turned 28 on Wednesday. The Olympic gold medalist and World Champion has set multiple records, including a 90.23m personal best, bringing immense pride to the nation.
The defending champion, who had clinched gold in Budapest two years ago, managed a best throw of 84.03m at the National Stadium, well below his usual standards
Four years on from his glorious Olympic gold at the same venue, and two years after being crowned world champion in Budapest, Neeraj could manage only eighth place with a best of 84.03m.
The Indian ace needed to clear 84.50m for automatic qualification and did so with a smooth 84.85m effort on his opening attempt, extending his remarkable record of sealing qualification with a single throw for the fifth major event in a row.
Chopra managed a best effort of 85.01m on his final attempt to take second place, well below his season-best mark. It was also his third straight runner-up finish in the prestigious competition.
Two weeks after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, nursing a long-standing groin injury, came up with a season best effort of 89.49m to finish second in the Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday.
True to form, Chopra uncorked a massive opening throw and qualified for the final of here yesterday as the best of the twelve qualifiers.
Nadeem, who finished second behind Chopra in Budapest, was recently quoted, saying: “It has now got to a stage where the javelin is damaged and I have asked the national federation and my coach to do something about it before the Paris Olympics.
Jena has been making headlines ever since he went toe-to-toe with Neeraj Chopra at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year.
Nadeem, who came up with the magic mark of 90.18m throw to claim the gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, on Thursday revealed that the only international standard javelin that he had is currently out of shape. Consequently, Nadeem is currently training with a locally-made javelin but that could lead to injury in the run-up to the Paris Olympics
