Turku: Chopra, Vetter, and Peters to compete

The Paavo Nurmi Games organizers have confirmed that three world champions in the men’s javelin will compete at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku on June 14.

Neeraj Chopra, the Olympic champion, will compete against world champion Anderson Peters and 2017 world winner Johannes Vetter. Julian Weber, who finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympic Games, adds to the event’s depth and quality.

It will be the first time all four guys have faced each other in a championship match.

Chopra made history by becoming India’s first Olympic gold medalist in athletics and instantly becoming a sporting hero in his native nation when he won in Tokyo last year. With an 88.07m jump earlier in the season, he beat his own national record.

Vetter had dominated the event for the better part of two years before to the Olympics. When he threw 97.76 meters in Silesia in 2020, the German climbed into second place on the global all-time chart. Last year, he returned to Poland and came close to matching that performance with a throw of 96.29m, the third-best in history.

Despite going unbeaten for the entire year of 2019, Peters was a bit of a surprise winner of the world title in Doha that year. He had won the NCAA title earlier in the season, and then shattered his own national record to win the Pan-American Games with a distance of 87.31 meters.

Weber may not have won a world championship, but he is a consistent participant on the circuit and in important competitions. The German, who has a personal best of 88.29 meters, finished sixth in the 2019 World Championships and second in the Wanda Diamond League final in 2021.

“We can expect a world championship-level competition,” said Arttu Salonen, the Paavo Nurmi Games’ athlete recruitment manager. “We’re still in talks with a number of international players, and we’re also looking for top Finnish names, with Lassi Etelätalo leading the way.”Since Chopra did not compete after the Tokyo Olympics, the next clashes between Vetter and Chopra will undoubtedly be tense.”

The javelin throw has a strong following in Finland, particularly in Turku.

“The previous Paavo Nurmi Stadium results speak for themselves,” Salonen added. “Vetter won in Turku the year before last with a throw of 91.49 metres, while Marcin Krukowski set a Polish record with a throw of 89.55 metres last year.”