Tokyo calling yet again for Neeraj Chopra

Facing old rivalries and his own 90-metre challenge, Chopra returns to the site of his Olympic triumph to defend his title

- Deepti Patwardhan

Four years after achieving his greatest triumph, Neeraj Chopra returns to Tokyo's National Stadium hoping to defend his last remaining major title. Since 2021, Chopra has won and lost the Olympics and the Diamond League crown. But he is still the reigning world champion, and will lead the Indian challenge at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from 13-21 September.

The World Championships will bring to a close yet another eventful season for the Indian javelin star. For it was the year when he finally breached the 90m barrier, a milestone that had been haunting him ever since he won the 2016 World U20 Championships with a national record of 86.48m. In 2023, Chopra also brought home the first world-class international athletics event in India, the eponymous NC Classic, in Bengaluru in July.

More importantly, for the man who covets consistency, the 27-year-old did not drop below second place in any event he competed in this year. For 26 events in a row, Chopra has been among the top two finishers—the last time he finished third was at the Kuortane Games in Finland in 2021. The last time he missed a podium finish was at the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava in the Czech Republic in September 2018.

These are incredible numbers, especially in a sports discipline in which India has historically under-achieved. Before Chopra, independent India had not won a single track and field medal at the Olympics. On a sultry evening in August 2021, with empty stands bearing witness during the Covid-19 pandemic-affected Games, Chopra unloaded that burden of history by winning the javelin gold at the deferred Tokyo Olympics. He followed it up by winning the Diamond League Final in Zurich in 2022 and completed the trinity of titles by claiming the 2023 World Championships gold in Budapest.