Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra clinched gold on his debut at the Ostrava Golden Spike, a prestigious World Athletics Continental Tour Category A event, on Tuesday, 24 June.
While Neeraj fell short of his personal best of 90.23m, he comfortably dominated the nine-man field, which was notably missing one of his fiercest rivals and 2025 nemesis, Julian Weber.
South Africa’s Douw Smith sprang a surprise with a personal best of 84.12m to claim silver, edging out former world champion Anderson Peters, who settled for bronze with a best effort of 83.63m.
Neeraj displayed greater consistency than in recent outings, registering four legal throws-all beyond the 80m mark. Urging the Ostrava crowd to get behind him for his final attempt, he sought a big finish but deliberately overstepped the foul line after sensing the throw would fall short of 85m.
Despite sealing victory, Neeraj was visibly disappointed after his final attempt-a sign that he was chasing a personal milestone in what became a contest largely against himself at the 61st edition of this storied meet.
This marked Neeraj’s second consecutive top finish, following his . The victory in Ostrava will serve as a timely confidence boost ahead of next month’s marquee event-the Neeraj Chopra Classic, India’s first major international javelin competition.
OSTRAVA GOLDEN SPIKE RESULTS
Rio Olympics champion Thomas Rohler finished a disappointing seventh with a best effort of 79.18m.