Monaco, April 13: Paavo Nurmi Games organisers’ on Wednesday announced the participation of three winners of global titles Neeraj Chopra, Johannes Vetter (Germany), and current world champion Anderson Peters (Grenada) in the men’s javelin at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting starting from June 14 in Turku, Finland.
Chopra, the Olympic champion, will take on world champion Peters and 2017 world championships winner Johannes Vetter. Julian Weber of Germany, the fourth-place finisher at the Tokyo Olympic Games, will add further depth and quality to the event. This will be the first time when all four javelin stars will meet in a final.
The 24-year-old Indian scripted history when he won in Tokyo last year, earning India’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics and instantly becoming a sporting superstar in the country. Earlier in the season he had broken his own national record with a 88.07m throw.
Before the Olympics, Vetter had dominated the event for two years. The German moved to second on the world all-time list when he threw 97.76m in Silesia in 2020. He returned to the Polish region last year and came close to matching that throw with 96.29m, the third-best throw in history.
Peters went undefeated in 2019, the Grenadian was still something of a surprise winner of the world title in Doha that year. Earlier in the season he had won the NCAA title, then broke his own national record to win at the Pan-American Games recording a throw of 87.31m.
Weber may not have a global title to his name, but he is a consistent performer on the circuit and at major championships. The German, who has a personal best of 88.29m, was sixth at the 2019 World Championships and was placed second at the 2021 Diamond League final.
