India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Thursday became the first Indian to win the coveted Diamond League Final title, achieving a historic feat.
Olympic gold medalist Chopra started with a foul but climbed to the top spot with a throw of 88.44m (his career-best fourth) in her second attempt, which turned out to be her winning effort.
His six attempts were as follows:
- Dishonestly
- 88.44m
- 88.00 m
- 86.11m
- 87.00m
- 83.60 m
Olympic silver medalist Jakob Vadlage of Czech Republic finished second with a best throw of 86.94m, which he recorded in his fourth attempt. Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a best effort of 83.73m.
Chopra, 24, is now an Olympic champion, a World Championship silver medalist and a Diamond League champion. He has achieved all this in just 13 months. He won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo on August 7 last year.
He has produced throws in excess of 88m six times this season, which shows his consistency. He holds the national record of 89.94m, which he achieved this season.
Chopra also ended her international season with a history-screenplay performance. The Diamond League Finals can be considered the most prestigious competition outside the Olympics and the World Championships.
This was Chopra’s third appearance in the Diamond League final. He had finished seventh and fourth in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Chopra was also awarded the Diamond Trophy, prize money of US$30,000 and a wild card for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
However, he has already qualified for the World Championships as his Lausanne-leg winning throw crossed the 85.20m qualifying mark.
Chopra made an impressive comeback from a month-long injury by winning the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League series on 26 August and qualifying for the final here.
He became the first Indian to win the Diamond League Meet title in Lausanne with his third career-best throw of 89.08m.
He missed the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (28 July to 8 August) due to a minor groin injury during a silver-winning performance at the World Championships in the United States in July.
Chopra vs Vadlejcho
With Thursday’s win, Chopra beat 31-year-old Vadledge for the fifth time since winning gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games in August last year.
When Chopra finished second at the Pavo Nurmi Games (June 14) and the Stockholm Diamond League (June 30), Vadledge was in sixth and fourth.
(Inputs from PTI)