One of India’s most prized assets, Neeraj chopra bettered his own national record with a stunning throw of 89.30 meters in Finland on Tuesday. After being declared as a national hero with his olympic achievements, Neeraj backed himself for the record throw.
Chopra’s earlier national record was 88.07m which he had set in Patiala in March last year. He had won the Tokyo Olympics gold with a throw of 87.58m on August 7, 2021. Opening with an impressive 86.92 meters, before sending the next throw to 89.30 meters and scripting history. His next 3 attempts were fouls and his final attempt was a terrific 85.85 meters
Finland’s 25-year-old Oliver Helander, with a throw of 89.83 mts was declared the winner as he shattered his own record of 80.36 mts by some distance and bagged the gold, to everyone’s surprise.
Reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who was the favorite after his world record throw of 93.07 meters in Doha, finished a rather underwhelming third with a throw of 86.80 meters. This was his first defeat, after registering seven riveting wins.
I had a nice feeling to get back into competition. Ten months after the Olympics is quite a long time,”, the 24-year-old was quoted saying His sole objective was to start on a good note. “We were trying to implement whatever we were focussing on during training, especially technique. Even while throwing, I needed to keep that in mind,” said Neeraj. He also added that his effort was fine, but the angle of the throw needed to be better.
An absolutely riveting video of Neeraj surfaced when he got that elusive gold medal in Tokyo where his training montage forced sports lovers all around the world to take notice of an underrated gem in the history of Indian sports history. He did train hard for gold here as well, but fell agonizingly short.
From July last year to his recent achievements, Chopra has consistently been in the 85-89 meters mark and going into Paris in 2024, Neeraj would want to go for gold again and keep the Indian flag flying high.
