Chopra starts the Olympic build-up in the Diamond League together with Kishore Jena
Ace javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra’s preparations for the Paris Games will be sorely tested when he starts his season in the first leg of the prestigious one-day Diamond League match against a star-studded but well-known field here on Friday.
The 26-year-old Indian javelin superstar, who is also the reigning world and Asian Games champion, will compete against former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Olympic and world medalist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic.
The Asian Games silver medalist and his compatriot Kishore Jena will also be in contention when he makes his Diamond League debut. Jena has a personal best of 87.54 meters, while Chopra’s all-time best is 89.94 meters, which is also the national record.
European champion Julian Weber of Germany, fourth at the Olympics and World Championships, will also compete in the 10-man field. The competition then moves to Morocco on May 19.
Chopra is also the defending champion here, having set the tone for his title-laden 2023 season with a win ahead of Vadlejch and Peters.
The Indian had then sent the javelin to a distance of 88.67 meters, against the 88.63 meters and 85.88 meters of Vadlejch and Peters respectively.
In 2022, Peters had delivered the fifth longest throw in history (93.07 m) at the Qatar Sports Club.
Vadlejch, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist and 2023 Diamond League champion, had set a personal best of 90.88 meters here in 2022.
Chopra has won three individual stages of the Diamond League and lifted the championship trophy in 2022.
After this event, Chopra will compete at home for the first time in three years at the National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships to be held in Bhubaneswar from May 12 to 15.
Jena will also participate in the event. According to the schedule, the men’s javelin throw qualifying round will be held on May 14 and the final on May 15.
Chopra last competed in a domestic competition at the same Federation Cup on March 17, 2021, when he won gold with a throw of 87.80 meters.
After competing in the domestic event, Chopra will compete in the prestigious Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 18.
At that event he will compete against 19-year-old sensation Max Dehning of Germany, the newest member of the 90m club.
His goal for this season is to defend his Olympic title and break the elusive 90-meter barrier. In an earlier interview with PTI, Chopra had emphasized on the importance of staying injury-free.
“My training has gone well so far. I always emphasize fitness, in addition to strength and technique,” he had stated last month.
“Over the past few years, there have been minor injuries that have caused interruptions in my schedule. So I have to work on minor exercises as well to save myself from injuries,” he had said.
“There should be no distractions because of minor injuries like this. I want to be fully fit and do my best in Paris. That is my focus,” he added.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: May 9, 2024 | 4:04 PM IST