Neeraj Chopra Sets New National Record In First Competition Since Olympics 2022
The athlete started with an 86.92m throw before nearly touching the hallowed 90m mark in his second attempt
“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy”… This could be common symptoms for a javelin thrower who hasn’t flung his weapon in 10 months or so. But not for Neeraj Chopra, who obliterated his own national record at Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland with an 89.30m throw.
In what was his first competitive appearance since Olympics 2022, Neeraj surpassed his national record of 88.07m, which he achieved last year in Patiala. His effort at Paavo Nurmi took him to the fifth position in the leader’s list for 2022.
Neeraj Chopra. 89.30m. ⭐️
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) June 14, 2022
Here's the official video of the new national record throw. pic.twitter.com/PkuJSmwoiJ
He missed out on a gold medal by 0.53m, losing to the local lad Oliver Helander, who recorded his personal best of 89.83m throw in front of his home crowd. Anderson Peters, the current world champion from Greece, finished third with an 86.60m throw.
Chopra started with an 86.92m throw before nearly touching the hallowed 90m mark in his second attempt. However, his next three throws were deemed illegal, and his final attempt traversed only 85.85m.
Ahead of this tournament, Neeraj Chopra said that instead of directly aiming to breach the hallowed 90m mark, he wants to ease into the competition mode and scale gradually.
neeraj chopra is quite a remarkable young man. since tokyo he's been swamped by felicitations, awards etc etc. he's charmed his way through all that, got back to training, turned up at his first competition and smashed the national record!
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) June 14, 2022
Having not played a competitive event in almost a year, Chopra’s performance was nothing short of extraordinary. His next stop will be at Eugene in the USA, where he will be competing at the World Championships.
Well done @Neeraj_chopra1! You set the bar higher each time you compete 🇮🇳 congratulations on the new record 💪🏻👊🏻👍🏻 #NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/wKAOKpc82o
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) June 14, 2022
“I don’t have to hit 90m straightway, 86 or 87m at the start of the season will be more than enough. It is also my dream to cross 90m and will try to do that this year in some competition,” he said last month.
Neeraj Chopra signs off from the Paavo Nurmi Games with 85.85m in his final attempt. His best was a new javelin NR of 89.30m in his 2nd throw. He wins 🥈 and has the season's sixth best throw. Not bad for the Olympic Champion's first competition in 10 months since Tokyo.
— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) June 14, 2022
Featured Image Credit: Olympics