Neeraj Chopra does not usually worry about distance as long as he gets on the podium but the poster boy of Indian athletics knows he may have to throw beyond the 90 metres mark if he is to defend his javelin world title in Tokyo this month.
A mop-haired Chopra became India’s first track-and-field athlete to win Olympic gold in the Japanese capital four years ago, and has since added a Diamond League trophy, world championships gold and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
In November last year, the 27-year-old brought in three-time Olympic champion Jan Zelezny as his coach in a bid to throw even farther. Six months into the partnership, Chopra registered a personal best of 90.23m in Doha earlier this year.
But the Indian has fallen well short of 90m in his last five outings and threw a modest 85.01m in the Diamond League Final in Zurich last week, finishing a distant second behind German Julian Weber’s monster throw of 91.51m.
While a string of high 80m throws have kept him in the top two in each of his last 26 competitions, Chopra acknowledged it would probably not be enough to leave Tokyo with another gold medal around his neck this month.
“This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the world championships, so I still need to throw a little bit further,” Chopra said after Zurich.
“There were a few things that went well, but still, there were the things which did not go that well.
“In this sport, we do not know. It depends on the day. In Tokyo, everything will be different.”
Weber laid down the gauntlet with a pair of 90m-plus throws in Zurich. Chopra and Brazil’s Luiz Mauricio da Silva are the other others to have breached that mark this season.
“Julian, he is a good friend of mine and I am always happy when he is doing well and we push each other,” said Chopra.
“At major championships, the gold is more important than the far throws. So I will try my best to win the medal.”
