Olympics: The Germans coming for India's javelin star Chopra

When Neeraj Chopra claimed the javelin title for India at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, it marked a watershed moment in Indian sport, as he became the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in an athletics event.

Chopra's success was a big deal in a country that has designs on hosting the 2036 Games and is typically used to only winning Olympic medals in hockey, shooting and wrestling.

The 26-year-old followed up his success in Japan with the title at the most recent world championships in Budapest last year and heads into the competition in Paris ranked No. 2 in the world.

However, Chopra won't have an easy task to defend his Olympic title, a feat that was last managed by Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen at the 2008 Beijing Games.

There is a large field of contenders, and among those who were hoping to challenge Chopra when the javelin competition got under way on Tuesday were two Germans: Julian Weber and Max Dehning.

Weber qualified for Thursday's final with the third-longest throw, but Dehning, struggling with injury, went out of the competition.

Mr. Consistent and the young pretender

Weber is Germany's Mr. Consistent. A fourth-place finisher at the Tokyo Olympics, as well as the world championships in 2022 and 2023, Weber has thrown more than 85 meters in all six events that he has taken part in so far this year, with an effort of 87.76 meters in qualification on Tuesday.

He was just 14 centimeters shy of a medal at the Games in Japan, and is hoping to be in the mix again in Paris.

"You have to throw between 86 and 90 meters to win a medal," Weber told reporters in June. "I definitely want to throw in that range. The Olympics is the biggest event in the world. Everyone dreams of being there. This is the third time for me. I now dream of winning a medal, and that would be the greatest thing for me."

Dehning is Germany's young pretender and a big hope for the future.

The 19-year-old burst into the public consciousness with a mammoth throw of more than 90 meters at a competition in Germany in February, making him the youngest thrower in history to achieve that distance.

Nobody has matched Dehning's mark this year, although he himself has also failed to get close to it in subsequent events, including here in Paris.

Dehning admits his world best this year has put him under pressure, but he's trying to manage expectations and look beyond these Games.

"I'm 19 years young," he said. "You have to understand that not everything works out in a year when you've conjured up a throw like that. I'm still very much in the learning phase when it comes to competitions. I still haven't reached my peak. So the others have to put more pressure on themselves."

Germany's production line of talent

The fact that Germany has two world-class javelin throwers comes as no surprise.

The country has been a production line of talent in recent years, with the likes of Thomas Röhler, gold medalist at the Rio Olympics in 2016, and Johannes Vetter, whose personal best of 97.76 meters is second only to that of Jan Zelezny, the Czech world record holder.

Röhler told DW that he and his teammates thrived off the competition with each other.

"We were all roughly one generation, and everyone woke up in the morning and knew that there was someone else in town who had exactly the same goal," he said. "Great coaches with a lot of knowledge also helped our generation."

Dehning said the wealth of talent in German javelin throwing has certainly aided his development.

"You do observe a bit," he said when asked by DW whether he had learned anything from the others. "I've always followed Julian Weber and Johannes Vetter over the years to see how they behave in competition. I think you can learn a lot in the javelin. But you always have to remember that each of us is a different thrower."

Chopra, Nadeem lead Asian charge

Now, though, there are other examples to follow from further afield.

Chopra and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, the Commonwealth Games champion in 2022, have arrived on the scene, showing that the javelin event is not just the domain of the Europeans.

"Many countries that weren't present at all in javelin before are now on the start line," Röhler said. "Because of the media and social media, this coaching advantage [in Germany] is no longer there."

Weber, meanwhile, thinks there could be a few throwers who will "shock" the competition. "One or two people you wouldn't expect to can also throw far," he said. "It's javelin throwing. A lot can happen."

However, the 29-year-old hopes his previous Olympic experience and his mechanisms for dealing with pressure will serve him well in Paris.

"The pressure has always been there, it's one of those things," Weber said. "You have to make sure that you don't overdo it, that you're not too much in 'beast mode.' You try to relax because it's bubbling up inside you, but you have to try to control it and not let it all out."

Edited by: James Thorogood