"I am close to it and I hope I can hit the mark soon" - Neeraj Chopra on breaching the 90m barrier

Ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to breach the 90m mark in 2022.

Chopra is the first Indian athlete to win an athletics gold medal at the Olympics, a feat he achieved by registering an 87.58m throw in Tokyo. However, that distance is only the second-best of his career.

Just before the Olympics, at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala, Neeraj Chopra managed to hurl the javelin across a distance of a little over 88m. Having hovered close to the 90m mark for a while, Chopra is keen to break the vaunted barrier soon.

Speaking to select reporters from his training base in the USA, Neeraj Chopra claimed that while he doesn't want to obsess about numbers, he does believe that 90m would cement his place among the best throwers in the world.

"Winning a medal is one thing, throwing a distance is another," Chopra said in response to a question by this Sportskeeda journalist. "I know that breaching the 90m mark will put me in the list of the world's best throwers. I am close to it and I hope I can hit the mark soon. But having said that, I don't think about it too much and I don't take that pressure."

"There are a lot of athletes who have already thrown above 90m," he added. "Athletes from the junior circuit are also there, like Anderson Peters from Grenada. He is also near the 90m mark. Johannes Vetter is giving a good performance. So, competitions will be very tough. We'll see when the season starts."

Neeraj Chopra also asserted that getting past the 90m mark will not need any major changes in his technique.

"The gap is about 2m (between his best and his target of 90m)," Chopra said. "It's not less but I don't think it's also impossible because my training is good. I don't think about it much but it's a barrier that I'd like to breach this year. No major changes in my technique, I'll need to improve what I am already doing. I'll also look to work on explosive strength, core strength and speed as these factors will be vital and the distance will be covered."

Packed season ahead for Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra is currently training at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California. The Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center is a state-of-the-art facility, spread over 155 acres, and is widely regarded as one of the world's finest training and competition venues.

Chopra's 90-day off-season training camp will end on 4 March 2022. The camp is aimed at helping him prepare for the packed 2022 season, which includes the World Championships in Oregon (USA), the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, (United Kingdom) and the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China).

Speaking about his routine during training, Neeraj Chopra revealed that he is following a strict regimen to help himself get back among the best in the business.

"My life here is very simple," the ace javelin thrower said. "I have my breakfast by 7:30 in the morning and then head to the training center where I train for over two hours. We have our lunch there and then we return to our apartment to rest."

"I head to training again by 4 in the evening and return after dinner," he added. "Post training, I have a normal day where I call up family or friends, buy some essentials for myself or take rest before starting the routine again."

Neeraj Chopra further said he is now enjoying his life as an athlete with a strict routine.

"I cannot follow a routine at home," Chopra said. "I get a lot of invites from family and friends to keep visiting them. Patiala, my home town is also cold these days. The weather in California is perfect."

"My only focus here is on training, rest and diet," he added. "I am back to spending the normal life of an athlete, where I only focus on sports and nothing else."