Neeraj Chopra crosses 90m mark at Doha Diamond League
CHENNAI: One of the longest running sagas in elite Indian sport is finally over. As India went to sleep on Friday night, Neeraj Chopra, the country's poster boy in athletics, hurled the spear past the 90m mark — 90.23 to be exact — for the first time ever at the Doha Diamond League on Friday. This also shows that he is completely free of injury. However, he could not finish on top as Germany's Julian Webber threw a monstrous 91.06m in his last attempt.
After years of coming close and failing, the double Olympic medallist proved to himself that he had it in his locker, javelin's absolute gold standard. In the process, he became only the 25th man in history to cross the distance.
It's perhaps no coincidence that Chopra — who has sat through many a press conferences where 90m has dominated the discourse — nailed the mark under the guidance of Jan Zelezny, the Czech great who sailed past the 90m territory more than 50 times in his career.
This is also the best start Chopra would have asked for under the new coach after parting ways with German biomechanics expert, Klaus Barthonietz, after last year's Olympics.
Even in a loaded field comprising the likes of Jakub Vadlejch, Julian Weber, Anderson Peters and Arshad Nadeem, all of them are contenders at the World Championships later this year, this throw will give him the necessary confidence that he's on the right track ahead of that event in Tokyo in September.
One can even make the case for saying the 27-year-old fancied this night to create history. Just after releasing the spear in his first attempt — "these are good conditions," was how the commentators summed it — his usual fun body language was missing.
The Indian multiple Olympic gold-medallist usually turns around and raises both his arms skywards after a good throw, especially if it's at the start of the competition.
This — a 'world-leading' 88.44m — was good. But Chopra kind of turned around with a tinge of disappointment.
There was no sense of disappointment after his third attempt when he hurled the weapon of his choice across the floodlit night sky before its pointy end landed just past 90m. Even before it hit the sweet spot, the Indian had his arms pointing skywards. Seemingly free of injury, that now customary Chopra body language was back after a season of pain.
Meanwhile, Parul Chaudhury finishes sixth with a timing of 9:13.39s and managed to attain qualification mark for the world championships.
