It wasn't the Throwback Thursday that Indian sport was anticipating. A run of glory that got its lift-off in Tokyo came crashing back down to earth at the very same place. One of Indian sport's greatest streaks ended at the Tokyo National Stadium on Thursday evening - after 26 consecutive events of finishing in the top two, Neeraj Chopra experienced what the other side was like. In one of the lowest nights in his career yet, he finished eighth at the World Championship final.
The disappointment perhaps masked the enormity of that streak - it was 2566 days, or 33 events, since Neeraj last missed out on a podium finish. Just look at those numbers and marvel at them. For Indian sport, those are numbers straight out of a wild dream. Who in their right mind could've even dreamt of such numbers? What was the precedent for Neeraj to do what he has done?
Indian sport seldom sees dominance of any kind, so for Neeraj to come into javelin throwing and take that world by such a storm is what his enduring legacy will always be. Apart from the Indian hockey teams of the early-to-mid 20th century, and Viswanathan Anand and Pankaj Advani in the 2000s (the latter still going strong), how many Indians can really claim to have been at the very top of their respective sports for as long as Neeraj has been? For all its riches over the last couple of decades, even Indian cricket has never dominated at the highest echelons for a period of seven years.
That is the magnitude of what Neeraj has achieved in the last seven years. It is that consistency, that winning-ness which makes Neeraj, arguably, modern India's greatest individual sportsperson.
So now that he's experienced this low, what next? Neeraj is focused on taking this blow on the chin, accepting that bad days happen in sport, and the need to prepare for his best, so that he can fight to be the best again. An athlete who's gone through seven years of success doesn't take even one failure lightly. And make no mistake, Tokyo 2025 represents a failure for Neeraj.
However, that is also what sport is. The margins between success and failure are tiny. In javelin, the difference between throwing 84 and 88 could often be a couple of degrees either way in the angle that you release the javelin, or just a couple of metres either way in the speed of your run-up.
So, if Neeraj's margins in Tokyo in 2025 were hurt by his own back injury, we must acknowledge how the margins fell in his favour at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when Johannes Vetter inexplicably had an off day that brought him down from the high 90s to the low 80s. We must acknowledge how the margins fell in his favour at the Paris Olympics as well, where he had only one legal throw throughout the competition, but that one was good enough for silver.
If his immediate reaction after finishing eighth is anything to go by, he knows that one loss won't define his career, and he won't let it. He has assured his fans that he will put in the hard work again, to tip those margins back in his favour again.
His legacy may already be set in stone, but what's wrong with making it even better? Neeraj's future is in his own hands. Keshorn Walcott has just won a World Championship title aged 32, five years older than Neeraj is right now. It should send Neeraj a signal that fitness and motivation permitting, he's got a fair few years of elite javelin throwing left in him.
Can motivation become an issue? Of course, for a normal athlete, but not for someone like Neeraj, who knows what it takes to be truly great. In 2023, Neeraj had said throwers don't have a finish line. So what if he had won everything there was to win in the sport. Why not repeat it all again? Neeraj had also said after his silver in Paris last year that he wouldn't stop until he felt that he had squeezed the last inch out of his body in the quest for the best throw he could manage. He hadn't thrown 90m back then, so even after two Olympic medals and a World Championship title, there was a tangible target to chase.
In 2025, he achieved that 90m mark, in his very first event of the year. A year that began with such a high eventually ended with a whimper, but it ended with an event that ought to serve as motivation for Neeraj - to avoid such a thing from happening again. Aise toh chal nahi sakta, na? (It can't go on like this, right?)
In terms of tangible targets, there are many to achieve quantitatively. Of course, the holy grail is his coach Jan Zelezny's 98.48m world record. 24 other men in history have thrown more than Neeraj's best of 90.23m - two of them are Asians, Arshad Nadeem and Chinese Taipei's Chao-Tsun Cheng.
Speaking of Asia, that will be the focus of Neeraj's attention in 2026. He's a two-time defending champion at the Asian Games, and next year in Nagoya, he will face a host of real threats in his bid for a hat-trick of gold medals there.
There were four Asians out of 12 in this World Championship final in Tokyo. Two of those four finished above Neeraj, and the third was the Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem who, on his day, has shown he can throw a javelin way past 90m. The standard of javelin throwing in Asia is higher than it's ever been. It's perhaps the most competitive continental field that exists today as well.
So, as Neeraj lets this defeat simmer within him, he has a tangible target to go for next year. To prove his Asian superiority once again. Failing to do that would mean that he would have his Olympic, World and Asian titles taken away from him.
"I've heard that many athletes have lows, and they bounce back from that, now I have to do that," Neeraj said in the mixed zone on Thursday evening.
For one night, Neeraj felt what it was like to be a mere mortal in a major global event. The aim of his life now is to not feel that again, as he sets about making his legacy one of a global pathbreaker. Until his body gives way, he will try in every way he can, he'll go again, and again. Zelezny is in his corner, and does anyone in javelin know more than him on how to again, and again?
Just as he didn't stop after that glory night in Tokyo in 2021, Neeraj Chopra won't stop after a poor night in Tokyo in 2025.