Neeraj Chopra Challenges Himself, "Will Breach 90m Mark Before Paris Olympics"

Olympic gold-medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is aiming to breach the 90m mark before the Paris Olympics and says the way his preparations are going, it could happen anytime soon. Chopra's best throw in competition came during the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League, where he hurled the spear to a distance of 89.94m. While he has breached 90m in training, he has yet to match it in competition. The 26-year-old, who will be aiming to retain his Olympic gold in Paris, said on Thursday, "I will try to breach the 90m mark before that (Paris Olympics). Hopefully, it happens before Paris, everything is going on smoothly, so (people) might not have to wait till the Olympics, it might happen before that. The preparation is good."

The reigning world champion's confidence stems from the fact that he has had a good off season, where he focused on fitness and strength, coupled with the success he has achieved after winning gold in 2020 Tokyo.

"During the start of the season, the focus was on fitness and strength and no specific javelin training. I think I got a lot of improvement in technique because of that. Besides, the strength and conditioning training in South Africa and Turkey has also gone well," said Chopra during a virtual interaction from Turkey.

Chopra added that following the Tokyo Olympics success his "self-confidence" had really gone up, which will help him tremendously going into Paris.

"After Tokyo, the self-confidence has definitely gone up. Besides, I have also played quite a few events... two world championships, a silver and a gold there, won the Diamond League trophy, made some good throws, then retained the Asian Games gold (in Hangzhou) as well.

"So, the success between Tokyo and Paris has given me a lot of