'Medals more important than distance' - Neeraj Chopra on elusive 90m question

The World Champion will next be in action in the Diamond League finals.

India's poster boy Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian athlete to claim gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in men's Javelin throw. He also became the only athlete to win two medals for the country at the world stage. Soon after a four-day break, the Olympic champion took part in Zurich Diamond League 2023 and finished 2nd.

In a span of one week, the National Record holder has participated in two major events and will soon be in action at the Diamond League finals scheduled to be held in Eugene from September 16th -17th, 2023.

Neeraj Chopra in a press interaction shared his thoughts on winning the world title and his preparations going ahead for the Diamond League finals and the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Challenges of playing two tournaments in quick succession

Neeraj Chopra had to travel to Zurich, Switzerland soon after winning the World Championships title in Budapest. After reaching, he attended only one training session and then participated in the Zurich Diamond League 2023.

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The world champion said, "I almost played in three competitions - including the qualification rounds at World Championships. Although, I finished the qualification round in one throw, but the preparations remained the same. The finals commenced a few days after the qualifiers and then the travel to Zurich for Diamond League. It was a challenge, but I had to put in my 100% effort.

"It took me some time to get going with the conditions and if you see, the first three throws weren't good either. After the mid-way mark, I pushed myself close to my best and finished second with two 85m+ throws. Since I have already qualified for finals, thought to not risk much and play sensibly. Before the World Championships, I had few health issues but coped up with it and in an athlete's life these things are normal.

"Next up, there is the Diamond League finals in Eugene and then the Hangzhou Asian Games. There will be a lot of travel in between and so I have to manage the time difference as well. I want to do well in the next competitions and finish the season without injury, so that I can begin my preparations in time for the next season ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024."

Maintaining fitness ahead of Diamond League finals and Asian Games

Neeraj Chopra added, "The next few days will used for recovery and possibly I will start training when I get normal. The routine will continue to move on as we had before with respect to hard training, heavy lifting, throwing and gym sessions. Have to keep the training simple as I cannot add anything new towards the end of the season. So, the main focus will be to stay fit and healthy."

Distance - The "90m" mark

The 90m has been a long wait for Neeraj Chopra with the entire country eagerly waiting for that moment. Although Neeraj is yet to break the 90m barrier, he has gone ahead and won the gold medal at World Championships which was a historic moment.

"Winning a medal is more important than focusing on the distance. The injury in between didn't go well as I had to skip three to four competitions which ultimately hampered my schedule. The planning which we had maintained wasn't executed due to an injury.

"With respect to the distance, yes I am not satisfied as I had three 89m+ throws last year and on the contrary the average is only 88m this season. But now I have won a gold medal at the World championships and the distance didn't matter there.

Coping up with playing in competitions in short durations

"I'm learning to adapt to the conditions and simultaneously give my best in the tournaments I take part. It is not always about winning rather have to take part in the meets as well. For instance, Jakub Vadlejch and Julien Weber did not put in their 100% at Zurich Diamond League and played to the situation. The competition too was very close as Weber climbed to the top first with Vadlejch taking it after the next few throws.

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"Before the start of every season, we prepare a calendar in such a way that there is a minimum of two weeks gap between any two tournaments I take part. But with my rehab and recovery, I couldn't participate much this season so wanted to give Zurich a go."

Interaction with Para Athletes

Para athletics has improved a lot in terms of performance in the past few years. Sumit Antil for instance broke his own national record five times (approximately in the past year) and has gone a step further to create a World record too. Apart from Sumit, there is Devendra Jhajaria who is a multiple medalist at the Olympics.

"Para Athletes have been performing exceptionally well for the past few years. Several of them also qualified for the Paris Paralympics 2024 post winning medals at the Paris Para World Championships. In Javelin, Sumit Antil has been breaking national records regularly with Sandeep also in the mix. I stay in contact with both Sumit and Sandeep as I have known them for a long time."