Neeraj Chopra Achieves Historic 90-Metre Throw at Doha Diamond League 2025
Neeraj Chopra's Remarkable Performance
India's renowned javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, secured the second position at the Doha Diamond League 2025, marking a significant milestone by surpassing the elusive 90-metre mark on Friday.
Chopra, a two-time Olympic medalist, kicked off the event with a leading throw of 88.44m at the Qatar Sports Club. After a foul on his second attempt, he delivered an impressive throw of 90.23m on his third try, establishing a new national record. His previous best was 89.94m, achieved during the Stockholm Diamond League two years ago. Throughout his career, Neeraj has recorded six throws exceeding 89m but had yet to reach the 90m threshold until now.
Reflections on the Competition
"It's a bit of a bittersweet outcome," Neeraj expressed, as reported by Olympics.com. "While I'm thrilled about the 90m achievement, finishing second is reminiscent of my experiences in Turku and Stockholm, where I also threw 89.94m and placed second. Here, I broke the national record yet again and still came in second."
Training Under Jan Zelezny
Currently, Neeraj is training under the guidance of Jan Zelezny, the legendary Czech javelin thrower and world record holder (98.48m, set in 1996). Zelezny is widely regarded as one of the greatest in the sport, holding five of the top ten throws in javelin history.
"I feel fortunate to have Jan Zelezny as my coach now," Neeraj stated, as quoted by Olympics.com. "We are still refining a few techniques and learning new aspects. Typically, he doesn't attend Diamond League events, but he accompanied me today, believing it was the right moment to achieve 90m."
Joining an Elite Group
With this achievement, Neeraj Chopra becomes the 25th athlete in history to throw beyond 90m in men's javelin. His throw ranks as the third-best by an Asian, following Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (92.97m) and Chao-Tsun Cheng from Chinese Taipei (91.36m).
Despite Neeraj's outstanding performance, Germany's Julian Weber clinched victory with a personal best of 91.06m on his final attempt. Grenada's Anderson Peters, the 2022 world champion who narrowly defeated Neeraj in Doha last year by just 1cm, finished third this time with a best throw of 85.64m.
Looking Ahead
"I'm also very happy for Julian Weber," Neeraj remarked, as quoted by Olympics.com. "He threw 91m, and we both broke the 90m barrier for the first time today. We've been striving for this for years, and it's finally happened."
"This was just the first competition of the year, and I am optimistic about my performance in upcoming events. I felt confident today and anticipated a significant throw from Julian, given his consistency. I told him that today was the day for both of us to break the 90m mark. This serves as a motivation for us to continue pushing forward in future competitions," Chopra concluded.
India's Kishore Jena finished eighth with a best throw of 78.60m, marking his second appearance in a Diamond League event after placing ninth in Doha last year.