Lausanne, Aug 23: 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 September 5 — 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 May 10.
The Indian has been managing his groin injury since winning the gold in the Budapest World Championships last year. (PTI)
