Olympic and World Champion Neeraj Chopra will finally make his comeback tomorrow at the Doha Diamond League 2026.
Speaking ahead of the Doha Diamond League at the pre-event press conference, Chopra opened up about his injury struggles, coaching transition, future plans, and expectations from a packed 2026 season that includes the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
The Indian javelin star said the decision to compete in Doha was made only after successfully completing his rehabilitation process. Chopra revealed that he had been dealing with injuries since before last year’s Tokyo World Championships and only resumed throwing around six weeks ago.
“I had some injury before Tokyo. We worked a lot on recovery. In an athlete’s life, when you try to save one injury, sometimes another problem appears. I had issues with my ankle and shoulder as well. We started throwing one-and-a-half months ago and decided to compete in Doha only after my final training session,” he said.
Doha holds special memories for Chopra, who crossed the coveted 90-metre mark for the first time at the venue last year. However, the 27-year-old believes that historic throw was not technically his best effort.
“Technically that throw was not that good. It was very fast from the arm, but if I had used my lower body better, maybe it could have gone two or three metres farther,” he explained.
Chopra also offered insight into his split with Jan Železný, under whom he achieved several milestones, including his first 90m throw. While expressing gratitude towards the three-time Olympic champion, Chopra said he felt the need to return to a more familiar training environment.
“Jan was a great athlete and a great coach. I’m happy that I broke 90 metres with him. But after Tokyo, I felt I needed to work more with my own ideas. Now I’m working with my first coach, Jaiveer Chaudhary. He has known me for 15-16 years and understands my journey from the beginning.”
The reigning world champion stressed that the current focus is not on major technical changes but rather on refining the style that originally made him successful. He is currently training under Jaiveer Chaudhary, his first coach and the first person who put a spear in his hand.
“I’m working on my natural technique. We are not doing anything very deep or complicated. We are focusing on what came naturally to me when I started throwing.”
Jaiveer himself is a former javelin thrower who competed alongside Neeraj and was his senior on the domestic circuit.
Looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games, Chopra predicted one of the strongest javelin competitions in recent history. With several Commonwealth athletes already throwing beyond 90 metres, he expects the event to rival even the biggest global championships.
Looking at the potential javelin field, the competition is shaping up to be one of the strongest ever:
Keshorn Walcott – 90.16m (PB)
Julius Yego – 92.72m
Rumesh Tharanga – 92.62m (WL)
Anderson Peters – 93.07m
Arshad Nadeem – 92.97m
Neeraj Chopra – 90.23m
Douw Smit – 84.57m
Keyshawn Strachan – 84.27m
Sumeda Ranasinghe – 85.78m
“Commonwealth will be not less than maybe the Olympics or World Championships. It will be a really tough competition,” Chopra said, referring to rivals such as Arshad Nadeem, Anderson Peters, Keshorn Walcott and Sri Lanka’s emerging star Rumesh Tharanga, who currently leads the world this season with a lifetime best throw of 92.62m.
The Indian ace also confirmed that the Asian Games remain firmly in his plans later this season.
Chopra was full of praise for Tharanga, who has emerged as one of the breakthrough performers in men’s javelin this year and holds the world-leading mark of 92.62m this season. He owns four of the world’s best throws in 2026:
92.62m (World Lead), 89.37m, 89.28m and 86.57m.
Even more impressively, five of the top 10 throws recorded worldwide in 2026 belong to Rumesh.
“He’s a really good guy and a good friend of mine. I’m very happy for him and for Sri Lanka. What he has achieved is amazing.”
Beyond competition, Chopra discussed the future of the Neeraj Chopra Classic, India’s first major athlete-led javelin event. Encouraged by a crowd of nearly 15,000 spectators at the inaugural edition, he hinted that future editions could expand beyond javelin.
“We didn’t expect so many people to come. In the future, maybe we can add more events. My team is working on different ideas, and we’ll announce them when everything is finalized.”
With a fresh coaching setup, renewed fitness, and major championships on the horizon, Chopra appears eager to begin a new chapter in his career while staying true to the fundamentals that made him one of the world’s greatest javelin throwers.