Neeraj Chopra Wins Gold at 2022 Kuortane Games; Has Nasty Fall on Third Throw

Neeraj, who was taking part in his second event since Tokyo, threw 86.69m to clinch the top prize in wet conditions.

Neeraj Chopra won Gold on Saturday in Finland

Image: IANS 

Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra has bagged yet another medal, this time clinching Gold in the 2022 Kuortane Games in Finland on Saturday. Neeraj, who was taking part in his second event since the Tokyo Olympics, threw 86.69m to clinch the top prize in wet and tricky conditions. This is his first Gold medal since winning the Olympic title.

On his third throw, Neeraj slipped and fell after releasing the Javelin and decided to not take further risks with the conditions. The Indian could be seen wincing in pain right after the fall and didn’t take any more attempts after that.

Neeraj's second and third attempts were fouls and he did only three throws. That meant Chopra had single legal throw and he won the competition with it.

London 2012 Gold Medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago finished with Silver with a throw of 86.64m while World Champion Anderson Peters of Grenada bagged Bronze with a throw of 84.75m.

Reigning Asian and world para javelin champion Sandeep Chaudhary, who was also training at the Kuortane Olympic Training Centre along with Chopra, also took part in the competition and finished eighth with a best throw of 60.35m.

Earlier in June, Neeraj took part at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland and finished with a Silver medal, a Personal Best and a National record with a throw of 89.30m.

Neeraj is India's only Gold medallist in track and field events at the Summer Olympics, where he won the Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

The ace athlete's next port of call will be in Stockholm in Sweden when he takes part in the Diamond League that begins on 30 June. The Diamond League will be his third event of the year. He returned to action after the Tokyo Olympics after almost a year.

After the Diamond League, Neeraj will be at the World Athletics Championships in the USA in July and then the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, which begins in the final days of next month.