Neeraj Chopra finishes second at the Lausanne Diamond League
After starting the fourth round in fourth place, the 26-year-old Chopra launched his spear to a distance of 89.49m on his sixth try.
Celebrated Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra came back in time to hurl a season-best 89.49 meters on his final try on Thursday, placing him second in the Lausanne Diamond League. After starting the fourth round in fourth place, the 26-year-old Chopra launched his spear to a distance of 85.58 meters on his fifth try. His sixth and last try, which measured 89.49m, was better than his performance at the Olympics in Paris, proving that he saved the best for last.
He nearly missed the sixth throw, but his 85.58-meter fifth round performance kept him safe. After five rounds, only the top three receive their respective final chances.
With a second round monster throw of 90.61 meters, Grenada’s Anderson Peters, a two-time world champion and bronze medallist at the Paris Olympics, won the competition. Julian Weber of Germany finished third with 87.08 meters.
“The feeling wasn’t great at first, but I´m happy with my throw, especially the second (career) best throw on my last attempt. It was a tough start, but the comeback was really nice and I enjoyed the fighting spirit I showed,” Neeraj Chopra said after the event.
“Even though my early throws were around 80-83m, I pushed hard in the last two attempts finishing strong. Competing at this high level, it’s important to stay mentally tough and fight through.”
Despite suffering from a chronic groin ailment, Neeraj Chopra, who won a historic gold at the Games in Tokyo three years prior, took home a silver medal in the throwing competition on August 8 at the Olympics in Paris.
With an Olympic record throw of 92.97 meters, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan defeated Chopra to win the gold in Paris.
Having had trouble regaining his form the previous year, Peters led the tournament from start to finish and gave his class a lasting impression with his throw of more than 90 meters in the last round. In 2022, he achieved his personal best of 93.07 m.
After finishing in second place on Thursday, Neeraj Chopra will have seven points and Weber will share third place with 15 points in the Diamond League rankings. Peters scored 21 points to take the lead. With 16 points, Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, who placed seventh on Thursday (82.03 meters), is currently in second place.
Lausanne Diamond League Recap
Chopra had announced on Saturday that he will be attending the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne and left open the possibility of having surgery after the season.
In 2022, Chopra won the Diamond League title. In the winner-take-all DL final held in Eugene, USA, last year, he came in second place, trailing only Czech Jakub Vadlejch. The DL finals for this season will take place on September 14 in Brussels. To make it to the season finale, he must be in the top six in the Diamond League Meetings Series standings. On September 5, there will be another DL meeting in Zurich, with a men’s javelin throw event on the schedule.
Although Chopra had won the Diamond League leg in Lausanne in 2022 and 2023, he was unable to repeat the feat this time. Actually, Chopra hasn’t won a DL meeting yet this year. On May 10, he came in second to Vadlejch in Doha. Chopra has been managing his groin injury since winning the gold in the Budapest World Championships last year.
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