Neeraj Chopra secured 2nd spot in the Lausanne Diamond League with a season-best throw of 89.49 meters on Thursday. The Indian Javelin thrower was in the fourth position till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m in his fifth time.
Even after securing the second position, Neeraj felt disappointed with his performance, he said, “The feeling wasn’t great at first, but I´m 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”.
Neeraj’s best performance came in the sixth and the last attempt which measured 89.49m, better than his performance in the Paris Olympics. However, he was also about to miss the sixth but his throw in the fifth round saved him as only the top three players after five rounds get their final attempts.
After the event, he mentioned that despite his earlier throws being around 80-83m he pushed hard for the last two attempts. He also stated about the mental toughness needed to compete at some high level
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.”
He was struggling with a long-standing groin injury during the Paris Olympics but he managed to get a silver in the Paris Olympics on August 8 with an 89.45m throw. He also won gold in the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.
Best Performance
Anderson Peters who comes from Grenada, secured the first position with 90.61m of throw. Peters has become the world champion twice and a bronze medal in Paris Olympics. Julian Weber of Germany secured the third position with 87.08m. Anderson Peters has a personal best of 93.07m which he got in 2022 though he struggled in 2023 in his game.
Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan has beaten Neeraj Chopra and got the gold medal in Paris with a record throw of 92.927m. Earlier Neeraj Chopra had also won the Lausanne Leg of the Diamond League twice in 2022 and 2023. Though Neeraj still has to win the DL meeting this year.
The final DL of the season is going to take place in Brussels on 14 September. Neeraj has to finish in the top six of the League meeting series to qualify for the finale.