Neeraj Chopra finally breaches 90m barrier, achieves long-awaited dream at Diamond League
Neeraj Chopra started his season strongly at the Doha Diamond League. He threw 88.4m in the first round. He is training under Jan Zelezny. Neeraj aims to break the 90-meter barrier. He previously won gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris. He will compete at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava. The Diamond League Finale will be held in Zurich.
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Finally, after wait of years, India's two-time Olympic medallist and reigning World Champion in javelin throw Neeraj Chopra opened the 2025 season with a bang, completing his long dream of crossing 90m.With a throw of 90.23 metre, India's most celebrated athlete of all times now becomes 25th overall and third Asian javelin thrower to breach the elite mark.On the back of his mind, Neeraj had always dreamt of elusive 90m mark and that was finally achieved in Doha.The 27-year-old double Olympic medallist sent his spear 90.23m in his third attempt to join a list of javelin throwers, led by his current coach Jan Zelezny of Czechia, who had recorded 90m-plus efforts. Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (92.97m) of Pakistan and Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m) of Chinese Taipei are the two other Asians to have breached the coveted mark.The celebrated javelin thrower commenced the tournament with a powerful throw of 88.4m in first round, allowing him to stand at the top.Neeraj has had a successful career with the Qatar Sports Club, placing second in the Diamond League's Doha leg in 2024 and winning in 2023. For the past few years, Neeraj has also started his athletic season at the Doha competition.Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and then a silver at the 2024 Paris Games, first competed in the Doha DL in 2018 when he finished fourth with a best throw of 87.43m.After winning gold in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he took the title in 2023 (88.67m) and finished second in 2024 (88.36m). He will be looking to regain the Doha DL title.Chopra is also set to compete at the Golden Spike 2025 athletics meet in Ostrava, Czechia on June 24, hoping to be third time lucky after pulling out of the last two editions due to injuries.The Doha leg is the third of the DL series and the first in which men's javelin is on the roster.The Wanda Diamond League is an elite one-day meeting series in global athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field.Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day DL Finale, which will be held in Zurich on August 27 and 28 this year.
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