Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra will be primed to break the 90m mark at Saturday’s Kuortane Games in Finland after his spectacular return in Turku, where he sent his javelin to set a new national record of 89.30m.
The 24-year-old Indian superstar’s javelin landed 70cm short of the 90m mark, the gold standard of the javelin world, at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday in his first competition after winning gold in Tokyo last August would have.
He finished second in a star-studded field behind local athlete Oliver Helander, who was the surprise gold winner with a personal best of 89.83m. Chopra will be making his second appearance this week at the Kuortane Games, which is a silver event in the World Athletics Continental Tour.
He is currently stationed at the Kuortane Olympic Training Center some 300km from Turku ahead of the all-important World Championships (July 15-24) in Eugene, USA. It will be a world class field in Kuortane but not as strong as in Turku. Reigning World Champion Anderson Peters, who led the season with a throw of 93.07m but finished third in Turku behind Chopra with 86.60m, will be there.
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Helander would also be pumped to produce another big hit under home conditions.
2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago, who finished fourth in Turku with 84.02m, will also be there. But Czech Olympic silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch, who finished sixth in Turku, and fifth-placed Julian Weber von Weber will miss action.
Chopra’s big competitor and friend Johannes Vetter from Germany isn’t there either, although he won here last year with a monster throw of 93.59 m. Chopra was third last year with a throw of 86.79 m.
If Chopra breaks the 90-meter mark he announced for this year, he will become the 21st javelin thrower to do so.
“I am satisfied with my performance. It was my first event of the season so I’m happy to have started the season with a good result. My performance here boosted my confidence significantly,” Chopra said after the Paavo Nurmi games.
“In the future I would like to work on my technique, my throw and my overall performance. I’m in a happy place right now and just want to do well in the upcoming events.” Chopra’s previous national record was 88.07m, set in Patiala in March of last year. He won gold at the Tokyo Olympics on August 7, 2021 with a throw of 87.58 m.
Chopra’s performance of 89.30m puts him fifth on the list of world leaders for the season.
After Kuortane, Chopra will be featured in the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League on June 30th. He had previously trained in the US and Turkey before moving to Finland last month