Ostrava Golden Spike: Chopra Looks to Sharpen His Throw for Paris 2024

Neeraj Chopra, the gold medallist in javelin throwing at the Olympics and World Championships, will compete in his third competition of the season on May 28 at the Ostrava Golden Spike athletics meet in Czechia.

This comes after Chopra finished second at the Doha Diamond League and made a spectacular return to national competition with a Federation Cup gold. The race being held here is the 63rd Ostrava Golden Spike event, which is also a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold label event.

Neeraj began his career on May 11 with a second-place finish in the Doha Diamond League, with the best throw of 88.36 m, falling just 2 centimeters short of the winner and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch. Neeraj is preparing for the Paris Olympics 2024, which will take place from July 26 to August 11 of this year.

His first national-level competition since winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 was the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar, and he did not let it down. Neeraj struggled with exhaustion from traveling a lot and not having enough time to recuperate, but even with his throw of 82.27 meters, he beat off DP Manu's opening lead of 82.06 meters to take first position and win the gold. This information is sourced from Olympics.com.

The men's javelin throw lineup at Ostrava would be formidable, with former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and home favorite Vadlejch. In the Doha Diamond League, Peters had also ended behind Vadlejch and Neeraj.

Neeraj had to withdraw from last year's Ostrava Golden Spike event owing to a muscular issue, even though he was supposed to compete. Vadlejch took up the trophy with the greatest throw of 81.93 meters.

With a personal best throw of 89.30 meters in the Paavo Nurmi Games in 2022, Neeraj won a silver medal. At the Diamond League 2022 Stockholm leg, Neeraj went one better, setting a national record with a throw of 89.94 meters that stands as his personal best to this day.