'Neeraj Chopra knows he is the world's best and a bad day won't change it'

Neeraj Chopra won his second Diamond League of the season by defending his title in Lausanne on Friday night, the Olympic champion declaring that when he turns up for competition next, it would be at next month’s Budapest World Athletics Championships.

A 90-metre throw, and a first world title, is likely to be on the agenda when he reaches the Hungary capital. His 87.66m winning effort in the Swiss city was off his best coming back after a fitness-forced break. But still only 25, Chopra’s maturity and focus showed champions can win in more than one way.

The Lausanne win wasn’t a cruise. Known to impose himself on the field with big early throws, he had to do it the hard way. After fouling his opening throw, he had to wait till the fifth and penultimate attempt to defend his title, claiming his second Diamond League title of the season. He warded off the challenge of Germany’s in-form Julian Weber (87.03m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (86.13m), silver-medallist in Tokyo when Chopra won the historic gold.

The win attested to Chopra's consistency — since Tokyo, he has competed in eight events, winning five and finishing second thrice — while his fifth-round winning throw was the longest he has had to wait to win an international competition in six years. The last time Chopra took longer was at the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar, where he nailed victory with his sixth and final throw (85.23m). His gold-winning throw at the 2016 U-20 World Championships and the Olympics were his second attempts.

That Chopra dug deep to bring out an 87m-plus throw deep in the competition despite coming off a month-long layoff due to a elbow strain indicated his competitive zeal, said javelin coach Kashinath Naik, a 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and one of Chopra's early coaches.

“Neeraj fights till his last throw. He has always been this way. I am not surprised he brought out his best throw so late,” Naik said.

Last year, Chopra entered six competitions. In all but one, his best came in his first two attempts, the other one being the Eugene World Championships final where his fourth attempt (86.37m) fetched silver. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, his winning throws were the fourth and third attempts.

“His idea is always to go for a big early throw, but if things don't go as planned, he is skilful and experienced to not panic. He has been throwing over 86m since 2016, so he has developed muscle memory for big throws. It takes 2-3 years for elite athletes to build that muscle memory and confidence. He knows he is the world’s best and a bad day won't change that. He is the most confident athlete I have met or worked with,” Naik said.

An evening temperature of 16°C in Lausanne did test the athletes. “That’s why you didn’t see any big jumps in the long jump either. The optimal temperature is 25-30°C. That's when the body is supple and ready. It was not easy to get a big throw early.”

Naik recalled how in the 2021 Federation Cup in Patiala, after his return from elbow surgery, he set a meet record on his final throw (87.80m). “He was in the lead throughout but was unable to get a big throw. It was just a domestic event, but he just doesn’t give up.”

The Lausanne win puts Chopra on top of the DL javelin rankings with 16 points, three clear of second-placed Vadlejch. Chopra, the reigning DL Final champion, has set sights on the worlds.

“The next competition, Budapest, will be a big one for me,” Chopra said. It starts on August 19.

“I’m super happy with the results but I also want to go back to training and fix some of the things that I noticed. Lausanne always treats me well. I look forward to coming again next year and winning.”

Among the issues is fixing the release of the javelin, caused by the elbow strain that forced him to skip two meets last month. “He strained his elbow and that can affect the angle of release. It is still on a higher side. His rhythm was alright, but not perfect; he appeared a bit rusty. Since this was just his second competition of the season and he was coming from an injury break, I’m not too worried,” Naik said.

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar though finished fifth with a best of 7.88m. Bahamas' LaQuan Nairn won with 8.11m and Greek Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou was second (8.07m). Japan's Yuki Hashioka was third (7.98m).

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