The never-ending quest for technical perfection

Faster run-up, fluid cross-step, stronger block and keeping the body from leaning left — these are some of the key technical areas that double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra is working on with coach Jan Zelezny in his quest for technical perfection.

- Shantanu Srivastava

At the heart of his pursuit lies the desire to become a consistent 90m thrower, a distance he finally scaled two months back to put to rest doubts about his ability to go that far.

The act of running with an 800gm spear and hurling it with full might is far more technical and complex than it seems.

Raw power doesn’t always cut it. There are so many moving parts that even a slight deviation in any one of them can mess up the rhythm and the result. It is, therefore, understandable for throwers to obsess over angles and momentum, drift and direction.

Chopra is no different. The reigning world champion is in the midst of a technical overhaul that requires him to work at almost every aspect of his craft. On a rainy afternoon, in a cramped store in Gurugram, he proceeded to deliver a brief masterclass on javelin technique.

Approach, crossover, block, throw, and follow-through form the core of javelin throw, and Chopra is working on most, if not all, of those key areas.