Neeraj Chopra Wins Gold Medal at Paavo Nurmi Games 2024

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Golden boy Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw at the Paavo Nurmi Games, a World Athletics Continental Tour (Gold level) event, achieving a distance of 85.97 meters in Turku, Finland on Tuesday.

The reigning world champion Neeraj started with a throw of 83.62m. His lead was momentarily surpassed by hometown favourite Oliver Helander, who achieved 83.96m in the second round, while Neeraj managed 83.45m.

However, Neeraj surged ahead again in the competition with his third-round throw of 85.97m, marking his best performance of the day. This was followed by throws of 82.21m, a foul throw, and 82.97m in subsequent rounds.

Toni Keranen of Finland achieved a new personal best of 84.19m to secure the silver medal, while Helander claimed bronze with a throw of 83.96m. Lassi Etelatalo, also from Finland, ended in last place with a distance of 79.35m.

Anderson Peters, a former world champion from Grenada, achieved fourth place with a throw of 82.58 meters, while Keshorn Walcott, a former Olympic champion, secured sixth place with a throw of 81.93 meters.

Andrian Mardare of Moldova secured fifth position with a throw of 82.19m. Meanwhile, Max Dehning, the 19-year-old German who had a world-leading throw of 90.20m in February, fell short of the 80m mark and finished seventh with 79.84m.

Neeraj participated in his third event of the season. The Tokyo Olympics gold medalist secured second place at the Diamond League meeting in Doha with a throw of 88.36m. Additionally, he competed in his first national competition since winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar last month with a throw of 82.27m.

Neeraj had planned to take part in the Ostrava Golden Spike 2024 but opted out as a precaution because of an issue with his adductor muscles.

He is expected to compete in the Paris Diamond League on July 7th. He has chosen to skip the National Inter-State Athletics in Panchkula at the end of June to avoid overloading his schedule before the Olympics.