Lucknow: Paris Olympics javelin competition saw India’s biggest athletics star live up to the massive expectations, achieving the country’s best result, to go with the five bronze medals its athletic contingent managed at the Games.

While Chopra then signed off his 2024 season with another second-place finish at the Diamond League Finals in Brussels, it also spelt the end of a glorious chapter in his career – German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz with whom he had formed a serial winning bond deciding to step away, citing his age and other engagements.

India’s javelin star was also expected to make another major decision on whether to undergo surgery to fix the persistent groin problem that had held back this year. Chopra, who has been consulting medical experts on the best way forward, confirmed on Saturday that he has decided to postpone a surgery for the time being.

Chopra took part in the Brussels competition, held on September 13 and 14, despite a fracture on his non-throwing left wrist, achieving 87.86m. Grenada’s Anderson Peters’ winning throw was 87.86m. Chopra said a surgery for the wrist injury was successful.

“Surgery to my wrist has already been done and I am feeling well,” he said on the sidelines of a promotional event here on Saturday.

“I am not sure about the time (it will take) when I fully recover after my (groin) surgery, so I will participate in the next event without having surgery and will decide about it later. Right now, I am focusing on my rehab seriously.”

Search for new coach

The other major reset will be finding a coach who can take him to the next level. Besides shaking off a few second-place finishes that seemed to leave Chopra hungrier for more, finding the 90m throw too will be a priority.

Chopra though is not in a hurry to settle on the successor to Bartonietz, with whom he had worked from 2019. The 26-year-old wants a coach who can take him to the next level. He has a few coaches in mind and is still deciding on what will work the best. The contract of Bartonietz, who took over from fellow German and javelin legend Uwe Hohn, was until Paris.

“I am looking for a new coach, but I am not in a hurry. I need a coach who can help me raise my game with a new approach. I am in discussion with a few, but right now I am weighing my options,” Chopra said.

“I wanted to continue with Bartonietz, but he has many commitments, besides his age. He is 75 and has cited his age and family commitments for his non-availability. I respect his decision as he also needs time for his family and personal life.”

Under Bartonietz, Neeraj Chopra became India’s first Olympics champion at the 2021 Tokyo Games, won the 2022 Diamond League title, World Championships silver (Eugene, 2022) and gold (Budapest, 2023) and successfully defended his Asian Games title at 2023 Hangzhou.

Chopra’s 2024 season though was defined by second place finishes at the Doha Diamond League, Olympics, Lausanne DL and the Brussels DL Finals. In two of the biggest events, he was overshadowed by 90m-plus throws. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem set an Olympic record throwing 92.97m to win gold in Paris while Peters threw 90.61m to win the Lausanne DL.

“I want to touch the 90m mark soon, but I am not sure when. I am very close to that mark…I hope to cross the mark soon.” His personal best of 89.94m was achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.

“Somewhere in my mind, an injury scare was there while throwing at the Olympics; I am not disappointed with my performance. I was excited at Paris like I was at Tokyo, I am confident I will be able to break my record at the next Olympics.”

Chopra hopes India, which wants to stage the 2036 Olympics, has many more winners.

“Athletics is on the rise in India, even the standard in the domestic circuit has gone up. There was time when an athlete with a throw of 75 metres won gold, but now with such a throw even making it to final is difficult. We need to nurture the next generation of athletes so that we can have many more Chopras at the Olympics when it happens in India.”

“There is plenty of support to sport from all quarters, including government and even private organisations. There is a kind of frenzy for athletics, especially for javelin throw and we need to exploit this enthusiasm by producing future javelin throwers. I feel there is no shortage of support in India right now. Even the parents are pushing their kids for javelin.”

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