Finally, Neeraj Chopra Gets The Monkey Off His Back

Last week Neeraj Chopra threw the javelin past the 90m mark – 90.33 metre in Doha – for the first time in his already spectacular career and got the monkey off his back. The 27-year old 6 footer from Haryana, Chopra will be better placed now onwards to achieve more such 90 metre plus results.  A niggle had seen him come up short at the Paris Olympics last year; the muscular Pakistani Arshad Nadeem killed the field in Paris for the gold medal with a supreme effort of 92.97 metres. Chopra ‘s 89.45m won him the silver. But 10 months afterwards, Chopra accomplished the 90m + feat at the Doha Diamond League. Chopra is now working with Jan Zelezny – the Czech Republic legend who threw the equipment to 90m plus distances 33 times from 1992 to 2001 with a world record best of 98.48m in 1996. Chopra has won gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Asian Championships. His best before the Doha 90m + was the 89.94m at Stockholm, Sweden in 2022. It was 13 years ago that he showed promise with a 68.46m in the national junior Championships in Lucknow. Two years later he entered the 70+ mark. He breached the 80 + mark (82.23) for the first time at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati. His 86.48 metre at the IAAF World U20 projected him as a champion thrower of the javelin. Chopra has taken part in 72 events since 2012, has won 39 and finished among the top three in 57 events. The 90+ metre mark has been breached 125 times. Chopra’s Doha feat of May 16, 2025 is the 23^rd all-time best.