Neeraj Chopra smashed his national record during the Paavo Nurmi Games 2022. It happened to be his first major tournament since the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

In another excellent news for the Indian sporting fans, javelin-thrower Neeraj Chopra has bettered his national record. During the 2022 Paavo Nurmi Games, held in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday, he came with a stunning throw of 89.30 metres, thus shattering the national record (88.07 metres) set last year. It happened to be his first competitive outing since winning the gold during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he won the gold medal last year after registering a throw of 87.58 metres. He had vowed to touch the 90-metre mark the previous year, considered the gold standard in the sport. He is currently placed second at the Finland event.

Chopra began with an impressive 86.92-metre throw before landing the spear at 89.30 metres. His subsequent three attempts turned out to be fouls while he threw 85.85 metres in the sixth and final attempt. Finland's 25-year-old Oliver Helander was the shock gold winner with the best throw of 89.83 metres he came up with in his second attempt.

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Chopra's 89.30-metre effort will likely take him to the fifth spot on the world season leaders' list. Reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada finished third, as his best effort happened to be 86.60 metres. It was his opening defeat after seven victories in a row this season.

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Chopra's friend cum rival Johannes Vetter of Germany was set to participate in the event but had to withdraw. In recent media interactions, Chopra had said he would not be putting himself under pressure with the thought of landing the spear beyond 90 metres. Instead, he would be looking to build up gradually to peak during the World Championships in Eugene, the USA, slated to be held between July 15-24.

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Chopra will next participate at the Kourtane Games in Finland from Saturday, where he is currently. He will feature in the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League from June 30. He had previously undergone training in the USA and Turkey before moving to Finland last month.

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(With inputs from PTI)