Neeraj finishes 2nd in Diamond League with season's best 89.49m
The 26-year-old was at the fourth spot till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m in his fifth attempt
PTI
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With seven points from Thursday's second-place finish, Neeraj Chopra is joint third alongside Weber in Diamond League standings with 15 points. PHOTO: PTI
Lausanne, 23 Aug
Star Indian
javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished second in the Diamond League here after
producing a season's best effort of 89.49m from his last attempt in a gritty
performance despite lingering fitness concerns.
The 26-year-old
was at the fourth spot till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m
in his fifth attempt. He saved the best for the last and his final attempt
measured 89.49m on Thursday, a marginal improvement on the 89.45m achieved in
the Paris Olympics a few days ago.
He was in danger
of missing the sixth throw but his fifth round effort of 85.58m saved him. Only
the top three after five rounds get their respective final attempts.
Two-time world
champion and Paris Olympics bronze-medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada won the
event with a monster throw of 90.61m in the second round while Julian Weber of
Germany took the third spot with 87.08m. "The feeling wasn't great at
first, but I am 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," 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."
Peters, who had
struggled to find form last year, led the competition here from beginning to
end and he stamped his class with the 90m-plus throw in the last round. He has
a personal best of 93.07m achieved in 2022.
With seven points
from Thursday's second-place finish, Chopra is joint third alongside Weber in
Diamond League standings with 15 points. Peters jumped to top spot with 21
points.
Czech Republic's
Jakub Vadlejch, who finished seventh (82.03m) on Thursday, is in second spot
with 16 points. Nursing a long-standing groin injury, Chopra claimed a silver
in the Paris Olympics on August 8 adding to his historic gold in the Tokyo
edition of the Games three years ago.
Pakistan's Arshad
Nadeem had beaten Chopra for the gold in Paris with an Olympic record throw of
92.97m. Nadeem was missing from the field here. On Saturday, Chopra had
confirmed his participation here, postponing a decision on a possible surgery
till the end of the season.
Chopra had won the
Lausanne leg in 2022 and 2023 and finished second behind Vadlejch in the
winner-takes-all Diamond League final in Eugene, USA, last year. This season's
DL finals will be held in Brussels on September 14. He needs to finish in the
top-six of the series standings to qualify for the finale.
There is another
DL meeting -- in Zurich on 5 September -- which has a men's javelin throw event
on its roster. Chopra is yet to win a DL
meeting this year. He finished second behind Vadlejch in Doha on 10 May.
The Indian has
been managing his groin injury since winning the gold in the Budapest World
Championships last year.
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