Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, competing for the first time as Diamond League champion, will be up against his familiar foes in the first of the prestigious series on Friday, as he aims to begin a ‘long’ season studded with top international events with a strong performance. The 25-year-old Chopra, also a 2022 World Championships silver winner, faces the likes of reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic in a star-studded field at the Qatar Sports Club. Chopra, who has a personal best and national record of 89.94m, had finished fourth with 87.43m in 2018 in his only other participation in the Doha Diamond League. He could not take part here last year due to lack of “overall fitness and strength”.

Despite missing the Doha leg, Chopra went on to script history one after the other last year. He became the first Indian Diamond League champion after winning the 2022 grand finale in Zurich in September last. A month before that, he became the first Indian to win a Diamond League Meeting in Lausanne. Chopra last month said that he was feeling better “physically and technically” at the corresponding point in time, but it will not be easy for him to win the top prize in the season-opening Diamond League here, going by the incredible competition seen here last year.

Peters had produced the fifth-longest throw in history by hurling the spear to 93.07m, a mark just outside German Thomas Rohler’s 93.90m, a meeting record set in 2017. Vadlejch, who finished second behind Chopra in Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze in the 2022 World Championships, also recorded a personal of 90.88m here last year in his first ever throw over 90m. Alongside the decorated trio, the Doha meeting will also have European champion Julian Weber of Germany, who has a personal best of 89.54m, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott (PB 90.16m) of Trinidad & Tobago and former world champion and Julius Yego (PB 92.72m) of Kenya.

“This is my first competition of the season. It’s always good when you have great competitors,” Chopra said at the pre-event news conference. “Vadlejch has already thrown 88.38m in Potchefstroom (South Africa, on April 18), so I think tomorrow (Friday) will see great competition. Also, Doha is famous for 90m throws. So hopefully tomorrow will have great results for all.” One of the targets for Chopra this year will be to cross the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin, but whether he can achieve the feat in his first competition of the season will have to be seen. The Doha meet will also see India’s triple jump star Eldhose Paul compete in a field, which includes Tokyo Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, reigning Diamond League winner Andy Diaz Hernandez of Cuba and Christian Taylor of the US.