Double Olympic medallist Sergey Makarov appointed India's javelin coach

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) appointed two-time Olympic bronze medallist Makarov Sergey Aleksandrovich as India's javelin throw coach on Monday.

The former Russian javelin thrower, who has a personal best of 92.61m, will be based at the National Institute of Sport (NIS) in Punjab.

"Aleksandrovich’s vast experience as an athlete and coach will surely give fillip to development of javelin throw in the country,” said India's chief athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair in a statement released by the AFI.

Aleksandrovich, 51, comes from a family of athletes with his father being a silver medallist from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He has breached the 90m mark four times in his career.

Aleksandrovich is also a former world champion, having won the title in 2003. This was in between his two Olympic bronze medals – the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games.

Aleksandrovich, who has served as the coach of the Russian national team from 2012 to 2018, has already arrived in Punjab. He is expected to take charge of top Indian javelin throwers like Neeraj Chopra, Annu Rani, and Shivpal Singh among others.

India had been looking for a javelin coach since Klaus Bartonietz, the German coach who guided Neeraj to two Olympic medals, took retirement from coaching at the end of the 2024 season.

In November, Chopra worked with world record holder Jan Zelenzy during a 31-day training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa.