Neeraj Chopra begins a new season with the Doha Diamond League on Friday night, as he begins a new era under the stewardship of Jan Zelezny, the greatest javelin thrower of all time.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of the first big javelin throw event of the year.
Key Details
Start Time: 10:13pm IST
Venue: Suheim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar
The Big Picture:
This was supposed to be the first of two events in the space of eight days for Neeraj, but the NC Classic, originally scheduled for May 24 in Bengaluru, has now been postponed indefinitely due to military tensions between India and Pakistan.
With all his focus now on Doha, Neeraj's task is cut out in a field that consists of some of the best throwers in the world. In fact, five of the top seven finishers at last year's Paris Olympics will all be competing in Doha, with only Arshad Nadeem and Luiz Mauricio da Silva missing from the field.
Last year's Diamond League winner and Paris bronze medallist Anderson Peters headlines this field alongside Neeraj, who didn't win a single Diamond League event last year. Neeraj competed in two Diamond League events as well as the Diamond League final - in Doha, Lausanne and Brussels - and finished second in all of them, behind Peters in the last two, and behind Jakub Vadlejch in the first one.
Apart from Neeraj, Peters, and Vadlejch, the field also has Julian Weber, Julius Yego, Keshorn Walcott, Max Dehning, Roderick Genki Dean, Ahmed Sameh Mohammed and Kishore Jena.
Peters finished last year on a high, with throws in the high 80s or early 90s in three events in a row. If he's anywhere close his best physical shape to start this season, then another 90m+ throw could well be on the horizon from him as well.
Jena is another one for whom the start to this season will be absolutely vital. He has been in woeful form recently and even finished outside the top three at the Federation Cup in Kochi last month. That meant he wasn't named as part of India's contingent for the Asian Athletics Championships later this month.
What are Neeraj's past results in Doha?
Neeraj has competed three times in Doha in the past, and has won it once, in 2023, when he threw 88.67m. Last year, he threw 88.36m, and finished second behind Vadlejch by just 2cm. Prior to that, Neeraj had competed in Doha in 2018, when he finished fourth, behind the Germans Thomas Rohler, Johannes Vetter and Andreas Hoffmann, all of whom threw beyond 90m.
Vadlejch and Peters both threw more than 90m in Doha in 2022. At the pre-event press conference on Thursday, Neeraj said that it is an ideal season-opener for many javelin throwers, sheerly because of the number of throwers who have their personal bests at this event.
Is Neeraj the only Indian competing in Doha?
Of course, Jena is competing in the men's javelin throw as well. But there will also be Indian representation on the track: Parul Chaudhary will be in action in the women's 3000m steeplechase, while Gulveer Singh will run the men's 5000m.
What Neeraj said:
At the pre-event press conference, Neeraj spoke of how his start to life under new coach Jan Zelezny has been challenging, but at the same time, rewarding too.
"With Jan, it's going really well. In the beginning, it was challenging, but right now, it's going really well. It's also helped me not only in training. He was great when he competed himself. He helped on how to compete with strong mindset," he said.
Zelezny has replaced Klaus Bartonietz as Neeraj's coach, and the Indian said that he had tried to persuade the German to remain on-board, but the 76-year-old's desire to spend more time with his family took precedence over all else.
Where to watch:
You can watch the action on the Diamond League's official YouTube handle, but with no dedicated stream for javelin, you can follow along real-time with ESPN India's live blog.