New Delhi, May 17 -- At long last. On a warm Friday evening in Doha, his long locks held back by the trademark headband, world champion Neeraj Chopra broke the barrier that had been weighing him down for a long time, logging a memorable 90.23m throw to break his own national record and enter an elite club of spearmen. It didn't matter that German Julian Weber stole the top prize with his last throw (91.06m), for the night was truly about an exceptional athlete silencing lingering demons in his head. Grenada's Anderson Peters was third with a throw of 85.64m. Having flirted with the elusive distance on a bunch of occasions, the two-time Olympic medallist threw the monkey off his back on his third attempt. As the spear tore through the Doha night sky, Chopra raised his arms in delight - his customary celebration indicating he has unlocked a big throw. Not for the first time in his storied career, the Tokyo gold medallist showed that he can more than hold his own in a stacked field - five of the top seven finishers at Paris Olympics were among the 11 men in action. Chopra's reaction after his distance was confirmed showed that the emotion he felt most was relief. A gentle shake of the head before shaking hands with other athletes. They all knew what this meant him. They all knew it had been a long wait. With temperatures hovering in the mid-30s and a helpful tailwind to boot, the Indian began the meet with a world-leading throw of 88.44m to give indication of what was to follow. His next effort was a foul but he came back strong, hitting the mark he has long chased. His next throw was 80.56m which was followed by another foul. He closed the competition with another strong throw (88.20m) before Weber, who had crossed 89m twice on the night already, unleashed the winner with his last throw. Chopra's feat makes him only the third Asian after Chinese Taipei's Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m in 2017) and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (92.97 in 2024) to cross 90m and 25th overall. The second-place finish follows his victory at the Potch Invitational Meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa last month where he threw 84.52m. The 27-year-old has been pegged back by a lingering groin niggle for over two years now and Doha was an ideal early season opportunity for him to test his body as well as consolidate his alliance with javelin great Jan Zelezny. After the Paris Olympics where he finished second with a throw of 89.45m behind Nadeem, Chopra had made no secret of his disappointment of failing to hit the 90m mark. Blessed with a fluid natural technique, the double Worlds medallist has, in the past, has spoken about the need to get physically stronger and stay injury-free to achieve the mark. Three months after Paris, Chopra joined hands with the Czech exponent who holds the all-time javelin world record of 98.48m. Not much is public about Zelezny's training methods yet except the fact that the duo were based in South Africa during the off-season. "With Jan, it's going really well, in the beginning it was challenging but now it's going well. It's helped me, not just in training. He was great when he was competing himself. So, he is helping me with other things, like how you have to be strong and compete with a strong mindset. It's going really well," Chopra had said on Thursday. A day later, it all came together for him. The other Indian in the fray, Kishore Jena ended eighth with a best effort of 78.60m. Distance runner Gulveer Singh, competing in his first Diamond League, finished ninth. The 26-year-old had set the national record this February, clocking 12:59.77 en route a fourth-place result at the Boston University DMR Challenge. Kenya's Reynold Cheruiyot won the race with a personal best time of 13:16.40. Swiss Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu was next with 13:17.70 while Bahrain's Birhanu Balew was third. Later, 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary opened her season with a national record of 9:13.39. Her time was good enough to also secure qualification for the 2025 World Championships. Marking a comeback after a hiatus of seven months, Parul finished an impressive sixth. Kenya's Faith Cherotich won with 9:05.08 followed by Bahrain's Yavi Winfred who clocked 9:05:26. Ethiopian Sembo Almayew completed the top three....