By Paul Hof-Mahoney
November 12, 2024
2020 Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra announced over the weekend that he has made a coaching change, and he will now be training under Jan Źelezný. Źelezný is a three-time Olympic champion and has held the world record in the javelin since 1993, setting the current record in 1996.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Chopra’s decision comes after Klaus Bartonietz, who had been his coach since 2019, announced his retirement last week at the age of 75. Under Bartonietz, Chopra had become the most consistent male javelin thrower in the world, winning gold (2020, 2023) or silver (2022, 2024) at each of the last four global championships. His win in Tokyo was the first Olympic track and field title ever by an Indian athlete, catapulting the then-23-year-old into superstardom.
- While Źelezný was the greatest to ever take to the runway while he was competing, he’s put together perhaps just as impressive a coaching resume. He coached women’s world record holder Barbora Špotáková to the Olympic title in London, as well as Vítězslav Veselý to a World title in 2013 and a pair of Olympic bronzes.
- Źelezný’s most prominent athlete in recent years has been Jakub Vadlejch, who took silver behind Chopra in Tokyo and bronze in Eugene and Budapest. In response to his coach agreeing to take on the man who has been his chief rival for the last four seasons, Vadlejch opted to end his partnership with Źelezný after 14 years.
- This signifies the first time that Źelezný has taken on a thrower of Chopra’s significance that is not Czech, and he said that Chopra has always been his first choice among non-Czech throwers. The collaboration between the two is set to begin this winter at a training camp in South Africa and run for two years. Źelezný is adamant that he will not be coaching Chopra throughout the entirety of LA 2028 Olympic cycle.
- "That made me happy because I talked about him as a great talent many years ago, at the beginning of his career. I also saw in it a great benefit for the other members of my group, in which the best javelin throwers in the world would motivate each other and everyone would benefit from it.” - Źelezný on his excitement towards coaching Chopra via the Czech Athletics Federation’s website.
- “Jakub and I agreed that he will not train in my group for the next season. We came to this also after we did not find an agreement to include Neeraj Chopra in our team… I told the group about both of my intentions: to lead the elite training group for two more years - and not the entire Olympic cycle - and to welcome Neeraj Chopra into the group. [Vadlejch] subsequently decided to leave the group.” - Źelezný on Vadlejch’s decision to leave the group.
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Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
