On 16th May 2025, India’s Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra secured second place with a personal best and national record throw of 90.23 metres (m) in the Doha Diamond League 2025 held at the Qatar Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
- Germany’s Julian Weber clinched the first position in the men’s javelin throw event with a personal best of 91.06 m, while Anderson Peters of Grenada, a two-time World Champion, secured the third position with an 85.34 m throw.
Key Highlights:
Indian Athletes’ Performance:
i.Kishore Jena secured the eighth position in the men’s javelin throw event with a best attempt of 78.60 m
ii.Parul Chaudhary secured sixth place in the women’s 3000m steeplechase with 9:13.39, improving from her previous mark of 9:15.31 set at the 2023 World Championships.
- With this she broke her national record and qualified for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
iii.Gulveer Singh finished ninth in the men’s 5000m race with a time of 13:24.32.
Highlights from Track Events:
i.Women’s 100m: Jamaica’s Tia Clayton won with a world-leading time of 10.92 seconds. Her twin sister, Tina Clayton, took silver, while Amy Hunt (Great Britain) secured bronze.
ii.Men’s 200m: Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo narrowly clinched victory with a time of 20.10 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of USA’s Courtney Lindsey.
iii.Men’s 110m Hurdles: Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell won with a time of 13.14 seconds.
Neeraj Chopra’s Milestone Achievement:
i.Neeraj Chopra, the reigning World Champion (2023) and Asian Games 2023 gold medallist, became the first Indian to breach the 90m mark in the javelin throw. With this Neeraj qualified for 2025 World Athletics Championships
- His previous personal best was 89.94 m, recorded at the Sweden’s Stockholm Diamond League in 2022 where he finished second beyond Anderson Peters of Grenada
ii.Neeraj is now the 25th athlete globally and third in Asia to achieve a throw beyond 90m.
- The only Asian athletes ahead of him are Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan with a throw of 92.97 m and Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei with 91.36 m.
Note: The event marked Chopra’s first competition under coach Jan Železný (Czech Republic), the world record holder in javelin throw (98.48 m in 1996). He won the silver medal in the 1988 Olympics and the gold medal at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games.
About Doha Diamond League 2025
i.The Doha Diamond League 2025, organized by World Athletics (WA), was the third meeting of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League season.
ii.This prestigious competition featured 14 disciplines, including men’s 200m, 5000m, and javelin, as well as women’s 100m, 3000m steeplechase, and pole vault.
iii.The 2025 season also introduced “Diamond+” events with double prize money: USD 20,000 for first place at regular meets and USD 50,000 at finals, contributing to a record total prize pool of USD 9.24 million, the highest in the history of the Diamond League.
About World Athletics:
President – Sebastian Coe
Headquarters – Monaco
Founded – 1912
