Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra secured his maiden top-3 finish in the prestigious Diamond League meet with an effort to break a national record, but missed the 90m mark in a star-studded arena here on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Chopra started with a stellar throw of 89.94m, just 6cm shy of the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin throw, and the effort eventually turned out to be his best.
His other throws measured 84.37 metres, 87.46 metres, 84.77 metres, 86.67 and 86.84 metres. He bettered his earlier national record of 89.30 metres, which his javelin traveled to on 14 June at the Pavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, finishing second.
He finished second behind world champion and Grenada season leader Anderson Peters, who won the competition with a best throw of 90.31 metres, which he achieved on this third attempt.
He has thrown more than 90m twice this season – 93.07m, before winning the Doha Leg of the Diamond League last month with a 90.75m effort in Hengelo, Netherlands.
Germany’s Julian Weber was third with a fifth round throw of 89.08m while Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Jakob Wadlage (88.59m) of the Czech Republic was fourth.
Another Czech athlete and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Viteslav Vesli was seventh in the eight-man field with 82.57m.
Chopra has beaten Peters twice this month – in Turku where the Granada athlete finished third and at the Cuortaine Games, also in the final, where the Indian superstar won the gold medal with a best throw of 86.69m in wet and slippery conditions. had won.
Chopra’s first throw had raised hopes of creating history for him by becoming the first Indian to win a Diamond League event. Nonetheless, he became the second Indian after discus thrower Vikas Gowda to break into the top three in the Diamond League event.
Gowda, the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, who retired in 2017, had finished in the top three in the Diamond League event four times in his career. He finished second in 2012 (New York) and 2014 (Doha) and third in 2015 in Shanghai and Eugene.
Chopra was making his first Diamond League appearance in four years after finishing fourth in Zurich in August 2018. He has participated in seven Diamond League meets – three in 2017 and four in 2018.
The coveted one-day meet is Chopra’s biggest event in the Swedish capital World Championships in Eugene, USA from July 15-24.
The next Diamond League meeting where the javelin throw is scheduled is in Monaco on 10 August.
It is not confirmed whether Chopra will take part as it will take place a few days after the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28-August 8) where he will defend his title.
Germany’s Johannes Vetter, who has more than 90 throws among active throwers, remained on edge. He is not a perfect fit and was missed by the German nationals as well.
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