Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra is set to compete at the Ostrava Golden Spike, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet, on Tuesday, following his recent victory at the Paris Diamond League. The event marks Chopra’s first appearance at Ostrava after withdrawing from the previous two editions due to injury.The Tokyo Olympic champion will face strong competition in the nine-man field, including 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany and Grenada’s Anderson Peters, a two-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist.The competition holds special significance as Chopra will be competing on the home turf of his new coach Jan Zelezny, a Czech javelin legend and world record holder, who is also involved in organizing the Golden Spike. Zelezny currently holds the meeting record at 94.64m.The Golden Spike, established in 1961, is the most prestigious athletic meeting in the Czech Republic and one of Europe’s oldest athletic competitions. Since 2019, it has been part of the World Athletics Continental Tour – Gold, ranking second only to the Diamond League in importance.
The event is part of an elite series that includes only ten cities worldwide in the World Athletics Continental Tour – Gold series.The men’s javelin throw event is scheduled to begin at 10:30 pm IST. While there will be no television broadcast in India, viewers can watch the live stream on the event’s official YouTube channel.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?The competition features a diverse field of athletes including Jan Vyska from Czechia, Marc Anthony Minichiello from USA, Alexandr Caca from Czechia, Douw Smit from South Africa, Martin Konecny from Czechia, Toni Keranen from Finland, Thomas Rohler from Germany, and Anderson Peters from Germany.Chopra enters the competition in strong form, having crossed the 90m barrier for the first time in his career this season. He aims to build upon his recent success at the Paris Diamond League as he competes at this prestigious event.
