Paris Olympics 2024: Can Neeraj Chopra deliver again for India?

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Sportstar. The bigger concern for Chopra has been the niggling adductor injury that has hampered him since last season. It had flared up again this year and the Indian decided to skip the Ostrava Golden Spike event, which was held on 26 May.

To that end, Chopra has taken a more cautious approach this year and not participated in too many events. He has competed in only two international events in 2024, and won gold at the most recent outing at the Paavo Nurmi Games (18 June) in Finland. While injury prevention and management has been a big part of his training in the last few months, Chopra has also worked on getting stronger during the pre-season.

Speed and flexibility, he believes, are his forte, but he wants to improve his strength and power too. Chopra’s endurance has been put to the test recently as he has been forced to up his game in the second half of the events he competes in. Till about a year ago, the Indian was known to lay down the marker.

In Tokyo, Chopra needed just one throw in qualification, of 86.65m, to seal a place in the final. Three days later, on 7 August, he made the gold medal-winning throw on his second attempt. But when under pressure, Chopra won the 2023 Lausanne Diamond League on his fifth throw and the 2022 Asian Games with his fourth out of six.

He gave leader Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic a scare on his very final throw in Doha, which landed at 88.36m, just 2cm short of Vadlejch’s winning mark. It remains his best throw of the season so far. “The good thing about it is that whenever the competition gets stretched— like it did today—I can still get my best throw at the end," he said after the event.