Neeraj Chopra leads India's Gold push at Paris Olympics: faces challenge from Arshad and Vadlejch

Neeraj Chopra is aiming to defend his javelin title at the Paris Olympics 2024. As the reigning world champion and Tokyo gold medalist, Neeraj will compete in the men’s javelin event at the Stade de France. His journey to defend his title begins with the qualification round on Day 11 of the Summer Games.

Recent performances

This season, Neeraj has competed in three events. He threw a season-best 88.36m at the Doha Diamond League in May but had to withdraw from the Ostrava Golden Spike due to an injury. He later won gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games with a throw of 85.97m. Neeraj did not compete in the Paris Diamond League, focusing instead on the Olympics.

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Neeraj's main competitor is Jakub Vadlejch from the Czech Republic. Vadlejch, who became the Diamond League champion and silver medalist at Tokyo, has a season-best throw of 88.65m. Another strong rival is Anderson Peters, the two-time world champion from Grenada. Peters has a career-best throw of 93.07m, though his best in 2024 is 86.62m.

European Champion and rivalries

Julian Weber from Germany, the European Games champion, has a personal best of 89.54m and a season-best of 88.37m. Neeraj will also compete against Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games and has a personal best of 90.18m. Despite Nadeem’s impressive past, his season-best this year is only 84.21m. Neeraj faces strong competition but is ready to continue his successful career.