Reigning Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra on Friday won the javelin throw competition at the Lausanne Diamond League with a best throw of 89.08m.
Neeraj has thus qualified for the Diamond League Finals, which will be held in Zurich, Switzerland from September 7 and 8. He has also now qualified for the 2023 World Championsips.
This was Neeraj’s first competition since winning silver in this year’s World Championship in Oregon, USA. He was then forced to miss the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he would have attempted to defend his title, after sustaining a groin injury.
His best throw on Friday was also Neeraj’s third best throw of his career. His second throw measured 85.18m before passing on his third attempt. His fourth throw was a foul while he again passed his fifth attempt before coming up with 80.04m in the sixth and last round. Only the top three after the fifth round get the sixth throw.
The youngster from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana became the first Indian to win a Diamond League crown. He is also became the first Indian to qualify for the Diamond League final.
Before Chopra, discus thrower Vikas Gowda is the only Indian to have finished in top-three in a Diamond League Meet. Gowda had finished second twice — in New York in 2012 and in Doha in 2014 — and third on two occasions — Shanghai and Eugene in 2015.
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch finished second with a best throw of 85.88m while Curtis Thompson of USA was third with a best effort of 83.72m. Chopra had finished second in the Stockholm leg of the prestigious event behind world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada with a national record throw of 89.94m, just 6cm short of the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin throw.
Peters is recovering from an injury after he was assaulted inside a boat in his country earlier this month. In the World Championships in Eugene, USA, he was not in the medal position till the third round but here Chopra was leading from the first throw till the end though the eight-man field was not so strong.