The 90m mark continued to haunt Neeraj Chopra as the Paris Olympics silver medalist threw his season's best 89.49m and yet earned a second-place finish in the men's javelin throw competition at the Lausanne Diamond League. (More Sports News)
Anderson Peters of Grenada, the bronze medalist of the Paris Olympics, won the contest with an incredible throw of 90.61m in his final attempt.
Just like the Paris Olympics, where Neeraj finished behind Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, the Indian superstar had to again cross the 90m mark in his final throw if he wanted to win the competition. As he threw the javelin in what was the final attempt of the competition, the 26-year-old let out his trademark roar.
It seemed for a moment that Neeraj had finally breached the 90m mark that had eluded him for so long. However, as the javelin's dive towards the ground began, Neeraj knew he had missed. It was 89.49m, his second best throw ever behind the personal best 89.94m.
Julian Weber of Germany got the third place in Lausanne with the best throw of 87.08m in his second attempt.
Earlier, contrary to his usual way of setting up the competition early on in his favour through massive efforts, Neeraj was off to a slow start. His second throw reached 83.21m which remained his best till the fifth attempt.
Neeraj threw 85.58m in the fifth attempt to soar into the top three and earn a sixth chance alongside Peters and Weber, the top two.
The Grenadian began first and breached the 90m barrier piling up the pressure on both Weber and Neeraj. While Weber faltered, Neeraj did find his best throw of the competition and this season but it was not enough.
Czech Republic's Jakub Valdech, who finished a lowly seventh in Lausanne, and Peters have now booked their seats for the Diamond League final in Brussels next month. Neeraj is behind the duo at the third position. The top six in the list qualify for the final.
Neeraj is also likely to compete at the Zurich Diamond League, scheduled for September 5, the last stop for male javelin throwers before the Brussels finale in September mid-week.
Last September, Neeraj finished second in the 2023 Diamond League finale in Eugene, Oregon behind Vadlejch, who claimed a third season-ending title following triumphs in 2016 and 2017.
