Tribune News Network
Doha
India’s rockstar athlete Neeraj Chopra was the cynosure of all eyes at the pre-event Doha Diamond League press conference on Thursday. The Olympic and world javelin champion is aiming to break the elusive 90-metres mark at the Qatar Sports Club on Friday evening as he warms up for the 2024 Paris Games.
The effusive 26-year-old, however, was straight up with his talk saying, “I keep saying I want to break the 90-m mark. The last time I said so, I threw 88. This time I better do it first,” he said while addressing the media alongside joint pole vault world champion Nina Kennedy, eight-time Diamond League meeting winner Steven Gardiner and Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou.
“I really want to break this barrier. I am stuck between 88 and 90 metres,” said Chopra who’s personal best of 89.94 came in 2022.
Interestingly, even a throw of 90m would leave the Indian athlete well short of Czech Jan Zelezny’s world record of 98.48m set here in Doha in 1996.
Chopra, who is an icon back home with his big track and field exploits, boyish looks and long locks, also commented on his hair. “It is not good to have long hair for an athlete like me because the hair keeps coming in front of your eyes and you can’t see the fall line.”
Chopra has been training outside India for quite some time now. In South Africa, Turkey and in Europe. “It’s good for my profile if I train in India,” Chopra said. “But right now it’s Olympic year... I want to train more,” he explained.
The Doha Meeting welcomes many of the world’s best athletes for the third Wanda Diamond League event of the year, with some stars opening their seasons and other continuing their campaigns after the first two events in Xiamen and Suzhou in China.
Kenya’s world champion Mary Moraa won the Diamond League 800m title in 2022 and she will be seeking a strong start to her 2024 series as she competes at the Doha event for the first time.
After winning the African Games 400m title in March, Moraa made her 800m season debut at the Kip Keino Classic on home soil, winning in 1:57.96. Now she heads to Doha, where her competition includes Britain’s world indoor silver medallist Jemma Reekie and bronze medallist Noelie Yarigo of Benin, as well as Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi, Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin.
World indoor champion Freweyni Hailu is among those contesting the women’s 1500m, lining up alongside her Ethiopian compatriots Hirut Meshesha and Diribe Welteji, the world 1500m silver medallist who set a world record when winning the world road mile title in October. They are joined by Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir and Australia’s Jessica Hull.
In the men’s event, Kenya’s Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot races his first 1500m of the season against world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway, two-time world indoor champion Samuel Tefera and world U20 champion Reynold Cheruiyot.
Two-time world 5000m medallist Beatrice Chebet, who won the world 5km title in October and then retained her world cross country crown in March, returns to track action for the first time since the Diamond League final in September. In that race, the 24-year-old clocked 14:05.92 – the third-fastest performance of all time – to finish second in a race won by Gudaf Tsegay in a world record 14:00.21.
She’ll want to pick up from where she left off as she races Ethiopia’s world U20 champion Medina Eisa and world 10,000m bronze medallist Ejgayehu Taye, plus Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka and Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, Kenya’s Olympic bronze medallist Benjamin Kigen takes on his compatriot Abraham Kibiwot, the world bronze medallist, and Ethiopia’s Olympic and world fourth-place finisher Getnet Wale.
The athletics meeting will begin at 5.18pm with the final event – men’s 3000m steeplechase – scheduled for 8.48pm at the Qatar Sports Club’s Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.
