Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Neeraj Chopra looked relaxed in his stride during the Men’s Javelin Qualification at the Paris 2024 on Tuesday.
The ever-poised Olympic gold medallist needed just one attempt of 89.34m to qualify for the final. But it will be challenging for him to defend his top podium finish from Tokyo 2020 with the likes of Germany’s Julian Weber (87.76m), Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (85.63m), and Grenada’s Anderson Peters (88.63m) qualifying for the six-man final.
Julian and Jakub have personal best throws of over 90m and will be key challengers for the podium finish at Paris 2024.
Check out Neeraj Chopra’s throw in qualifiers here:
Neeraj Chopra qualified the Javelin final with a huge throw of 89.34m
8th August, mark the date! 🏅
Medal is coming soon 😍 pic.twitter.com/MOArtaJpn7
— Vibhor Varshney (@nakulvibhor) August 6, 2024
Incidentally, Chopra’s top competitor from Pakistan Arshad Nadeem qualified for the final event with a throw of 86.59m. He will also challenge the Indian as Nadeem had recorded a personal best throw of 90.18m in 2022, a feat the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist still has to achieve.
The Haryana ace had come closer to breach the 90m mark at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022 with his National Record of 89.94 m. He will be in line to become the fifth Olympian after Eric Lemming, Jonni Myyra, Jan Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen to defend their title.
His coach Dr Klaus Bartonietz and physio Ishaan Marwaah have accompanied him to Paris 2024. Talking about his preparations, Bartonietz had told PTI last month: “It’s just over two weeks left in the Olympics, so the intensity of training is high. He is having full throwing sessions.”
“Competitions sometimes disrupt preparation and you start all over again. Competing in high class events can become risky also. Travelling too much with logistics, with javelins around the world, is also not good. So, it’s fine, he has prepared and trained well,”
