Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra is set to begin his 2026 athletics season at the Doha Diamond League in Qatar on Friday after organisers confirmed his participation in the men’s javelin throw event through the official entry list released on Monday.
The two-time Olympic medallist will be making his fourth consecutive appearance at the prestigious Doha meet. Chopra has enjoyed considerable success at the event in recent years, winning the 2023 edition with a throw of 88.67m. He followed it up with a second-place finish in 2024 after registering 88.36m and then produced a national record throw of 90.23m in 2025, though he had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Germany’s Julian Weber.
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The Doha competition will mark Chopra’s first appearance since the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The Indian ace spent the off-season recovering from a back injury and training in Switzerland before returning to competition. His participation was confirmed shortly after he was provisionally included in India’s athletics squad for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Chopra’s return adds further excitement to a highly competitive men’s javelin field. Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem was initially named among the entrants but has since been withdrawn from the competition.
The spotlight will also be on Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, who enters the event as the current world leader. Pathirage recently stunned the athletics world with a massive throw of 92.62m at the Rome Diamond League, moving him to eighth on the all-time world list.
Other notable competitors include reigning world champion Keshorn Walcott, former world champions Anderson Peters and Julius Yego, Pan American Games gold medallist Curtis Thompson, and Olympic and World Championships silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch.
Doha Diamond League 2026 men’s javelin throw entry list
- Neeraj Chopra (India)
- Artur Felfner (Ukraine)
- Ahmed Sameh Mohamed Hussein (Egypt)
- Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (Sri Lanka)
- Anderson Peters (Grenada)
- Curtis Thompson (United States)
- Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic)
- Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago)
- Julius Yego (Kenya)
