Shillong, September 17: Reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra secured the second spot in the javelin throw event at the Diamond League 2023 Final, registering his best throw at 83.80m.
As per IANS, Neeraj, who made history last year as the first Indian to claim a Diamond League Trophy, was unable to retain the title at Hayward Field on a late Saturday night.
The victory went to Jakub Vadlejch from the Czech Republic, a former Diamond League champion in 2016 and 2017, who impressed with a throw of 84.24 meters, securing his third championship.
Despite holding the Indian national record of 89.94m, Neeraj won a world championship silver medal at the same venue last year with an 88.13m effort.
Neeraj had a shaky start with a foul on his first attempt but managed to mark 83.80m on his second throw, putting him in the second position behind Vadlejch, who began with an 84.01m effort.
An 81.37m throw on his third attempt, followed by another foul, allowed Vadlejch to maintain his lead, even though Neeraj had only one legal throw from the first four attempts.
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Vadlejch secured his best mark of the night with his final attempt, securing his second victory over Neeraj Chopra this year. Vadlejch had previously defeated Neeraj Chopra at the Zurich Diamond League last month.
On his way to the final, Neeraj triumphed in the Doha and Lausanne legs of the 2023 Diamond League series but settled for second place in Zurich.
With 23 points from three meetings, Neeraj qualified for the Diamond League Final. However, Jakub Vadlejch, who participated in all four qualifying events, topped the leaderboard with 29 points.
The Diamond League Final marked Neeraj’s second-to-last competition of the season before he defends his title at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou later this month.