India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra was not happy despite winning gold on his debut at the Ostrava Golden Spike. Chopra, who has grown up idolising the event since he was a child, thought that he could have done much better than his winning throw of 85.29 meters.
In the build-up to the competition, Neeraj had thrown his personal best of 90.23m in the Doha Diamond League. The 2021 Olympic champion fell much short of that mark, but comfortably dominated the nine-man field, which was missing one of his fiercest rivals, Julian Weber.
Speaking to the broadcaster after his throw, Neeraj said that it was one of his biggest goals to win the prestigious event and that he grew up watching legends Jan Zelezny and Usain Bolt winning this event.
“I am not that happy with my performance today, but I am very happy with the trophy I won. I used to watch this meeting a lot as a kid. I watched people like Jan Zelezny and Usain Bolt winning the Golden Spike and I dreamt of winning one as well. Now the dream has come true. I know the javelin throw is very popular in Czechia. The amount of support we were getting from the crowd was crazy. I just wish I could have performed better for them,” Neeraj Chopra told the broadcaster on June 24.
Neeraj displayed greater consistency in Ostrava than his recent outings, registering four legal throws—all beyond the 80m mark. Urging the Ostrava crowd to get behind him for his final attempt, he sought a big finish but deliberately overstepped the foul line after sensing the throw would fall short of 85m.
Despite sealing victory, Neeraj was visibly disappointed after his final attempt—a sign that he was chasing a personal milestone in what became a contest largely against himself at the 61st edition of this storied meet.
This marked Neeraj’s second consecutive top finish, following his win at the Paris Diamond League on 20 June. The victory in Ostrava will serve as a timely confidence boost ahead of next month’s marquee event—the Neeraj Chopra Classic, India’s first major international javelin competition.
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