Neeraj Chopra finishes second in Lausanne Diamond League, again fails to breach 90m mark

Paris Olympics Silver Medalist Neeraj Chopra returns to action in the Lausanne Diamond League. Despite enduring a groin injury, Chopra has lost no rhythm in the fortnight. The Golden Boy of India covered 89.49m in his 6th and final throw at the event and secured a second spot behind Grenada's Anderson Peters, who hit 90.61m. This is Neeraj Chopra's season's best throw.

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Neeraj Chopra Delivers His Season's Best Throw

The eminent 90m mark has once again been left untouched by the grip of Neeraj Chopra. Although, he was able to pull off his season's best throw, yet it fell short against Paris Olympics' Bronze medalist Anderson Peters' monstrous 90.61m throw. Neeraj Chopra second best throw of the season came at Paris Olympics, where a distance of 89.45m fetched him a second place on the podium.

Chopra started off with a throw of 82.10. He then covered 83.21m in his second attempt. He got 83.13m in his third attempt and was 4th in the order. Chopra's distance fell to 82.34m in the 4th attempt but he picked up the pace in the competition in his final two throws. A throw of 85.58m got him to the third spot and in the 6th and final throw, the familiar row came from Neeraj Chopra just after he released the javelin. It hit the 89.49m mark and ended him on the second spot in the competition. Chopra looked frustrated after his throw came close to hitting the 90m mark yet remained a few centimetres short.

Lausanne Diamond League Summary

The 26-year-old Chopra was at fourth spot till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m in his fifth attempt. He saved the best for the last as his sixth and final attempt measured 89.49m, which was better than his performance in the Paris Olympics.

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 his second round monster throw of 90.61m while Julian Weber of Germany took the third spot with 87.08m.

Nursing a long-standing groin injury, Chopra claimed a silver in the Paris Olympics on August 8 with an 89.45m throw, having won a 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.

Peters, who had struggled to find his form last year, led the competition 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 which he had produced in 2022.

With seven points from Thursday's second-place finish, Chopra will be on joint third spot with Weber on 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.

On Saturday, Chopra had confirmed his participation at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, leaving a decision on a possible surgery after the end of the season.

Chopra was the Diamond League champion in 2022 and finished second behind Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic in the winner-takes-all DL 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 Diamond League meetings series standings to qualify for the season finale.

There is another DL meeting -- in Zurich on September 5 -- which has a men's javelin throw event in its roster.

Chopra had won the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League in 2022 and 2023, but could not do so this time. In fact, Chopra is yet to win a DL meeting this year. He finished second behind Vadlejch in Doha on May 10.

Chopra has been managing his groin injury since winning the gold in the Budapest World Championships last year. 

(With inputs from PTI)