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‘Not that happy with my performance': Neeraj Chopra after winning Golden Spike title in Ostrava
India's Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin event at the 2025 Ostrava Golden Spike with a throw of 85.29m. Despite the victory, Neeraj admitted he wasn't fully happy with his performance and wished he could have done better for local fans. read more
India's Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin event at the Ostrava Golden Spike 2025 in the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Neeraj threw 85.29m in his third attempt to secure the top spot, ahead of South Africa's Douw Smit and Grenada's Anderson Peters.
It was Neeraj's second win in four days, having clinched the top spot at the Paris Diamond League last week. However, the 27-year-old wasn't fully satisfied with how he performed in Ostrava. Neeraj said that he wanted to perform better for the Czech crowd, who were supporting him during the event.
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'I am not that happy with my performance today, but I am very happy with the trophy I won. I used to watch this meeting a lot as a kid. I watched people like Jan Zelezny and Usain Bolt winning the Golden Spike, and I dreamt of winning one as well,' Neeraj said after the event.
'I know the javelin throw is very popular in Czechia. The amount of support we were getting from the crowd was crazy. I just wish I could have performed better for them,' Neeraj added.
Neeraj bounces back after foul start
The night didn't start well for Neeraj as his first throw was a foul. But he quickly made a comeback with an 83.45m throw in the second round. Then he came up with his best of the night in the third round, a throw of 85.29m, which proved enough to seal the title.
Douw Smit came second with a personal best of 84.12m, while Anderson Peters finished third with 83.63m. Nobody could better Neeraj's throw and he won with a round to spare. He founded again in the last round but the title was already his even before that.
Another win after Paris heroics
This win comes just four days after Neeraj's impressive performance at the Paris Diamond League, where he threw 88.16m to beat Julian Weber (87.88m) and Luis da Silva (86.62m) to win the title.
Before that, Neeraj had taken part in the Doha Diamond League, where he threw 90.23m, his first-ever 90m throw. He finished second there as Weber went even further in the final round with 91.06m.
Neeraj will next be seen in action in the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on 4 July.
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