Reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra returned to action and to winning ways together as he clinched the top spot on Tuesday in the Javelin throw competition at the prestigious Paavo Nurmi Games 2024 in Turku, Finland. (More Sports News)
Neeraj, who was returning to competitive action after taking a precautionary break to deal with an adductor issue, clinched his maiden gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games with a 85.97m long throw that came in his third attempt. The performance comes ahead of Neeraj's defence of his Olympic gold in Paris next month.
Neeraj led the field right from his first attempt of 83.62m. However, the world champion was overtaken by 2022 gold-medallist Oliver Helander who threw 83.96m in the second attempt.
Neeraj returned to lead with the third throw of 85.97m which eventually became the best in the competition. The winning throw was followed by the 26-year-old's trademark roar and it could not be bettered by any of his competitors. The current world champion got 82.21m, a foul and 82.97m in the last three attempts.
Helander's 83.96m throw helped him finish third while home favourite Toni Keranen claimed the silver medal with a personal best throw of 84.19m.
Two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada finished fourth with 82.58m. On the other hand, teen sensation Max Dehning who had lit up the athletics world by becoming the youngest ever to cross the 90m mark earlier this year had a disappointing outing. The 19-year-old finished seventh in a field of eight with the best of 79.84m.
India's only track and field Olympic medalist, Neeraj had participated in two events before the Paavo Nurmi Games. He had finished a close second at the Doha Diamond League and then won a gold in the Federation Cup in Bubaneswar last month.
After these two events, Chopra took a break after feeling "something" in his adductor.
