Paris Olympics: Second gold loading? Neeraj Chopra peaks in time for final

It was no surprise that Neeraj Chopra is all set to keep his date with the javelin final again at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, 8 August — but the manner in which he did it certainly got our attention.

A monster 89.34 m throw, his best this season and the top effort among the best exponents of his craft in the qualifiers at the historic Stade de France on Tuesday, 6 August, showed why Chopra is among the most elite in world athletics.

As India's dream of breaching the double-digit mark in the medals tally fades a bit with each passing day, as several of our top medal hopefuls fall pray to nerves, this ever-smiling Olympics and world champion showed us once again how to not buckle but positively revel under pressure.

If the adductor niggle limited his exposure to just three competitions this season, Chopra and his think tank remained unfazed by the interruptions and simply decided to focus on the time-tested principle of peaking at the right time.

The result was a serious improvement on his best run of 88.36 m this year in the Doha Diamond League in May, with the very first attempt laying to rest any doubts as to whether he would reach the qualifying mark of 84 m. “It was a good throw,’’ Neeraj said, adding: ‘’Maybe the biggest ever in qualifying for me. All the throwers look in good shape. The final will be a really good competition for sure."

“My biggest motivation is that I always go out to do my best because I know I have not reached my peak. I am not yet as good as I would like to be technically or in distance, so I want to improve and throw further.’’ — That should read like a warning to his rivals for Thursday evening, other imponderables of this demanding discipline notwithstanding!

While Chopra's attempt of 87.58m was good enough to land him a gold in Tokyo three years back, the closest he came to the ultimate dream throw of 90 m was his 89.94m at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022. However, as the champion has told the media a number of times, his main intention is to 'get the job done' rather than fuss about the 90m mark alone.  

Our Indian ace is expected to face stiff competition from Germany’s Julian Weber in the final. Weber achieved the direct qualification standard and recorded 87.76m on his very first attempt — bettering Neeraj’s golden throw in Tokyo by 18cm.

Two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada also made his mark for the final with a huge 88.63 m throw on his first attempt.

Jakub Vadljech of Czechia, who was the one to beat India's 'Golden Boy' by 2 cm in the Doha Diamond League earlier this year, qualified with an adequate 85.63 m throw. Vadljech won the silver in Tokyo with 86.67 m, and will be looking to dish out his revenge cold.

Meanwhile, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan — Chopra's closest rival in more ways than one! — threw 86.59 m on his first attempt to make it into the 2024 Olympics final. Nadeem finished second to Chopra at the 2023 World Championships as well, and is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion.

There was, however, disappointment in store for Neeraj’s compatriot Kishore Jena, who failed to qualify for the final. Slotted into Group A earlier in the day, he recorded a best throw of 80.73 m on his first attempt. The Asian Games silver medallist’s second throw was invalid and he could only get to 80.21m on his last attempt.

Jena ended up finishing ninth in the heat, staying outside the qualification spots as the top 12 athletes across both heats made the final.