 "Chasing 90m with new coach, Neeraj Chopra set to begin 2025 season in Doha")
Despite the fact that he won silver in the Paris Olympics three years after winning gold in Tokyo to cement himself as India’s greatest athlete of all time, the year 2024 was somewhat underwhelming for Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra by his own extraordinary standards.
Neeraj, after all, had been bossing events across the world and even if he did not throw the javelin the furthest, it was his remarkable consistency that helped him secure podium finishes across a wide variety of events, on top more often than not.
Let’s not forget the fact that Chopra has also won a gold and a silver medal at the Athletics World Championships in addition to winning the same medals at the Olympics, and is one of only three javelin athletes in the history of the sport to hold the Olympic and world titles simultaneously.
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There is, however, one feat that has eluded Chopra throughout his career, cost him two major titles last year and is at the top of his priority list heading into the season-opening event in Doha – breaching the 90-metre mark!
Now or never for Neeraj as far as breaching 90m is concerned
It is the inability to achieve the elusive feat that caused not one but two heartbreaks for Chopra last year.
Chopra’s best throw at the Paris Games last year measured 89.45m, which was better than the 87.58m throw that helped him win gold in Tokyo in 2021. The 27-year-old had breezed into the men’s javelin final in August in just one attempt with an 89.34m effort, and was a strong favourite to win back-to-back gold medals.
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More ShortsHis only legal throw in the final, however, paled in comparison to a monster 92.97m throw by Nadeem , which not only made him the first Pakistani to win an individual gold medal at the world’s biggest multi-sporting event but also smashed the Olympic record.
More than a month later, at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Chopra missed out on the title by the barest of margins – a centimetre to be precise. Chopra finished with a best effort of 87.86m while Grenada’s Anderson Peters, who had won bronze in the Paris Olympics, took home the glittering trophy with a throw of 87.87m in his very first attempt.
A maiden 90-metre throw would have helped Chopra end his season with a trophy. The closest he had come to that mark in 2024 was in the Lausanne Diamond League meet that took place right after the Olympics, where he registered a best effort of 89.49m – 45 centimetres short of his career-best throw of 89.94m registered at the Stockholm Diamond League meet in 2022.
Two months after the Diamond League final, Chopra would part ways with long-time coach Dr. Klaus Bartonietz, ending a five-year association during which he accomplished every major feat in the sport except the one feat that Chopra keeps getting asked about.
And he welcomed Jan Zelezny as his new coach, the Czech javelin legend someone who used to breach the 90m mark for fun during his stellar career and still holds the record for the furthest throw – a staggering 98.48m set in 1996 that has stood tall for nearly three decades now.
And it’s not just Zelezny’s technical adjustments that will be crucial for Chopra to throw further than ever before; he has been battling a groin injury pertaining to his adductor muscle for quite some time now, which had flared up last year and had impacted his performances.
The armyman began the 2025 season with an impressive 84.52m throw at the Potchefstroom Invitational in South Africa last month, comfortably topping a six-man field to win gold.
However, it is in the Doha Diamond League meet on Friday that he will truly be tested as he will be competing alongside Peters as well as Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, Germany’s Julian Weber, compatriot Kishore Jena among others.
"The Indian community in Doha is so supportive!"@Neeraj_chopra1 is looking forward to some 🇮🇳 support at #DohaDL 🇶🇦 tomorrow.#DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/E15Cw1ZJ4q
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) May 15, 2025
“I had some problems in my groin. This time, I never missed any (throwing) session. So, I feel very confident,” Chopra told reporters in Doha ahead of his first appearance in the 2025 Diamond League.
“I feel really good. The last throwing sessions were really great. I am ready,” he said. “I am very excited to open my season in Doha,” he added.
Defending his world title in Tokyo in September will be the other major objective for Chopra in the 2025 season, and he sure will face stiff competition from the likes of Nadeem, Peters among others.
How Chopra fares in Doha on Friday will give us a fair idea of where he is headed this year.
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