Neeraj Chopra appeared focused to breach the 90m-mark on Saturday. But he would now be glad to come back from the Kuortane Games unharmed.
He has survived a seemingly-dangerous fall, braved a slippery runway and dealt with wet conditions to record his first win of the season, finishing on top in an eight-man field in Kuortane, Finland, on Saturday.
A triumph in his second competition since the Tokyo Games will give Chopra further affirmation that his come back is going as planned, especially given the difficult conditions he had to navigate. The 24-year-old managed just one legal throw, which travelled a distance of 86.69m, off his first attempt. However, it turned out to be sufficient.
The scores fell collectively in the subsequent rounds for all throwers, with Chopra fouling his second and third attempts. He, in fact, suffered a nasty slip on the runway after releasing the javelin during his third throw. In the follow-through, Chopra slipped, lost his balance and fell sideways on his left.