New Delhi: A week after breaking the elusive 90-meter barrier at the Diamond League in Doha, Neeraj Chopra won second place at the Janusz Kusociński Memorial in Poland with a best throw of 84.14 meters.
With this result, he has maintained a streak of 22 consecutive events, starting June 2021, where he has not finished outside the top two.
This time though Chopra saved his best for the last, overtaking Anderson Peters with his final throw. The event was won by Julian Weber of Germany, who threw 86.12 meters in his second attempt to establish an early lead and he kept it till the end with a very consistent performance.
For most of the competition, Chopra struggled – his best over the first five rounds was just 81.80 meters, and Peters held second with 83.24 meters. But the Indian jumped into second place in the final round to rearrange the sequence to Doha Diamond League’s podium order.
In Doha, Chopra had thrown a personal best and national record 90.23 meters, finishing behind Weber’s stunning 91.06 meters. Peters had registered 85.64 meters.
With Chopra and Weber joining Peters- whose personal best is a formidable 93.07 meters- in the elite 90m club, the early season has already set the stage for an intense build-up to the World Championships and the Diamond League final.
Adding more spice to the competition would be Arshad Nadeem, the Olympic gold medallist from Pakistan, who is also in the 90-meter league. Nadeem will begin his season at the Asian Championships next week. With four world-class javelin throwers now consistently throwing big, the 2025 season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent history.
There were high expectations from Chopra in Poland, particularly after his stellar throw in Doha and with both Weber and Peters in the field. However, Chopra appeared to be treating the meet as a preparatory step for bigger goals this year.
His focus remains firmly on defending his World Championships title in Tokyo and reclaiming the Diamond League crown he won in 2022. Known for peaking at major tournaments, Chopra has carefully managed his form and fitness, even overcoming a groin niggle leading into the Paris Olympics, where he secured a silver medal.
Now working with the legendary Jan Zelezny — the three-time Olympic gold medallist and world record holder – Chopra is aiming to up his game. This season, he has already competed in three events. At the Potch Invitational in South Africa (84.52m), followed by his historic 90.23m effort in Doha, and now the second-place finish in Poland.
Chopra’s participation in the Janusz Kusociński Memorial came about after the Neeraj Chopra Classic, scheduled in Bengaluru, was canceled due to India-Pakistan border tensions. The Polish meet, part of the World Athletics Continental Tour, has a storied history in javelin. The meeting record of 91.50 meters was set by Zelezny himself, and past editions have featured top-tier performances, including Johannes Vetter’s 90.03 meters in 2020.
Though no athlete came anywhere close to those marks this year, the competition was still elite, with three of the world’s best javelin throwers headlining the field. Chopra’s new partnership with Zelezny signals a fresh phase in his career. He has shown amazing consistency but has fallen short of the 90m mark in last few seasons. Chopra has credited his coach with helping fine-tune his technique. The early results are promising, and the 90.23m in Doha has renewed belief in Chopra’s potential to push even further.