Neeraj Chopra looking at Diamond League title to cap a golden season

Usually, reams of praise on top athletes get written at the fag-end of their careers, but Neeraj Chopra is an exception. At 25 he has virtually won every global title possible – with the most recent being India’s first World Championship gold. But despite achieving what most athletes dream of in such a short time, Neeraj seems as hungry as ever. At the post-Worlds press conference, he summed up his mindset when he said, “Throwers don’t have a finishing line.”
“So I can push myself, it is motivation to see how many medals one can win. Winning medals does not mean we have done everything. There are so many athletes who have won multiple medals. So I will push myself much more and work harder,” he added.
Neeraj will be defending his Diamond League title in Eugene at the Hayward Field stadium – the same venue where he won his first and India’s second athletics World Championships medal, a silver, in 2022. Neeraj has had a consent outing in the Diamond League so far, finishing first twice and second once.

Neeraj, who had pulled out of Monaco, has accumulated over 21 lakhs in prize money this season from the various legs of the Diamond League. If he retains his title in Eugene on Saturday, it will be another big pay cheque of 30,000 dollars apart from the Diamond Trophy and a wildcard for the next edition of the World Championships.
Neeraj may be a clear favourite on paper but he won’t make the make of writing off his opponents like Czech power thrower Jakub Vadlejch who has won back-to-back competitions in Monaco and Zurich. Vadlejch, who had finished with a bronze in Budapest, would be eager to take the Diamond home. Vadlejch also has the world-leading throw of 89.51m this season. Two-time World Champion Anderson Peters, who beat Neeraj for the top spot in the Eugene World Championships last year, will also be competing in the finals.Most Read
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Breaking the 90m shackles
Having competed on the elite global level for a considerable amount of time, his Eugene outing won’t be a matter of holding his nerves but aiming for his personal targets. Achieving the 90m mark is one of them. Although not obsessed with the 90m mark, which no thrower has achieved so far this season, the leading Indian has made it clear that breaking that barrier is on his priority l. The closest he’s come to that elusive mark was back in June when he hurled the javelin to a dance of 89.94m at the Stockholm Diamond League.
“The year was going well but the groin injury created a problem. I have left it to time. I threw close to 90 metres last year. I don’t know which day a 90-metre throw will happen, but it will come one day or the other. I won’t take the pressure. In between, I had thought that I could make a 90-metre throw but the main thing more than the throw dance is the medal. Here there were 90 metre throwers also and you are competing in their midst. Consency is most important and that is what gives confidence in big competitions,” he said after Budapest.

With steeplechaser Avinash Sable and long jumper Sreeshankar Murali withdrawing from the finals to focus on the Asian Games, Neeraj will be the lone Indian in the field at Eugene. Neeraj, who is only the third javelin thrower in hory to hold both the Olympic and World Championship titles at the same time, has an illustrious CV so far. If he retains the Diamond League title it will only add to his ever-growing legacy.