He kicked off his season with a win at the Potch Invitational in South Africa before finishing second at the Doha Diamond League, where he breached the coveted 90m barrier with a massive 90.23m throw – a new national record.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist had to settle for a second-place finish again at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland, but returned to winning ways at the Paris Diamond League.
Since then, he has logged back-to-back wins at the Ostrova Golden Spike in Czechia and the NC Classic in India.
Arshad Nadeem, meanwhile, recently marked a triumphant return to action by winning the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, the Republic of Korea.
The Pakistani hadn’t competed since his Paris 2024 exploits.
Neeraj had skipped the Gumi meet, averting a showdown between the two rivals in South Korea. Nadeem, in turn, had turned down Neeraj’s invite to the NC Classic.
The face-off in Silesia builds up to the impending clash between the two at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, this September.
Neeraj, who trains under Czech javelin legend and world record holder Jan Zelezny, is the reigning world champion, having claimed gold at Budapest 2023. Nadeem had to settle for silver.