Neeraj Chopra, the javelin Olympic and world champion, will look to maintain his unbeaten streak in the Diamond League meet when he competes in a star-studded men’s javelin throw field here on Thursday.
Chopra on Sunday clinched his maiden World Championships title in Budapest with a throw of 88.17m. He had won a silver medal in the 2022 edition.
The Indian superstar also became only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships titles simultaneously after world record holder Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
Zelezny clinched the Olympics gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000 while winning the World Championships title in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Thorkildsen won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships.
The 25-year-old Chopra has been unbeaten this season, having won two Diamond League meetings in Doha (May 5) and Lausanne (June 30) before his World Championships triumph.
In Zurich, Chopra will be up against familiar rivals like the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, bronze winner in Budapest with 86.67m, Julian Weber of Germany and two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
Only Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, silver medallist in Budapest, will not be there in Zurich.
Chopra’s event at the Zurich Diamond League, also known as Weltklasse Zürich, is scheduled to be held around 12.10am (IST, Friday).
At a pre-event news meet in Zurich, Chopra said given that he hasn’t taken part in too many events this year because of a groin injury, the World Championship was “challenging”. “But I was prepared in my mind. I changed a bit of technique... it was the only gold medal I didn’t have, I won the Olympics (gold) in Tokyo. I just have the 90m mark now, hopefully I will throw far in the next competitions,” Chopra said.
Chopra, who won the Diamond League final trophy last year, sits third with 16 points from two events. Vadlejch (21 points from three events) and Weber (19 from three events), who finished fourth in Budapest with 85.79m, are on top and at second place respectively.
Peters, who has been struggling this season and failed to qualify for the final round in the World Championships, is in fourth spot with 15 points from three events.
The Zurich leg is the last in the Diamond League series where the men’s javelin throw event is on the roster before the season finale in Eugene, USA, on September 16-17 where the Diamond League champion will be crowned.
Only the top six in the points table will compete in Eugene.
Written with Inputs from PTI
