Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra faced an unexpected setback as he finished second in the Diamond League Finals with a performance that fell below his usual standards. The event took place in windy conditions at the Hayward Field, where Chopra struggled and fouled his two initial attempts. His best throw of the day came in the second attempt, measuring 83.80 meters.
Chopra’s series for the competition consisted of fouls, 83.80m, 81.37m, fouls, 80.74m, and 80.90m. This marked his first throw below 85 meters for the season. Despite this performance, he had qualified for the Diamond League Finals in the third position. It’s worth noting that he had secured victory in the 2022 DL Finals in Zurich with an impressive throw of 88.44 meters.
The Diamond League champion title went to Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, who claimed the championship for the third time in his career. His best throw of 84.24 meters was achieved in his sixth and final attempt. Vadlejch had led the field throughout the competition, starting with a first-round effort of 84.01 meters.
Vadlejch, who had previously won bronze at the Budapest World Championships and silver at the Tokyo Olympics, had also clinched the DL title in 2017 and 2018.
Interestingly, the Hayward Field was the same venue where Neeraj Chopra had finished second in the 2022 World Championships.
Despite this recent setback, Neeraj Chopra has had a remarkable year. He boasts a personal best throw of 89.94 meters and had secured victories in two individual DL meetings in Doha on May 5 and Lausanne on June 30. Most notably, he made history by becoming only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships crowns when he won the world title in Budapest with a throw of 88.17 meters.
After his historic World Championships victory, Chopra participated in the Zurich DL leg on August 31, where he finished second behind Vadlejch.
Neeraj Chopra is now set to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games later this month, where he will aim to defend the gold medal he had won in 2018 in Indonesia. Despite his recent performance, his achievements on the international stage have solidified his reputation as one of the world’s premier javelin throwers.
