India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra missed the Diamond League title by one centimetre and finished second for the second consecutive time with a throw of 87.86m in the season finale. Two-time Olympic medallist Chopra, 26, won the title in 2022 and finished second last year. He threw the best throw in the third attempt, but fell one centimetre behind winner Anderson Peters’ 87.87m.
Two-time world champion Peters of Grenada threw his best in the first attempt. Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a throw of 85.97m.
Neeraj, who added a silver medal to his Olympic medal tally in Paris after a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, received US$12,000 for finishing second, while Peters, who won the Diamond Trophy for the first time in his career, was given a cash prize of US$30,000. With this, he also got a wild card entry for the World Athletics Championships.
The Tokyo Olympic champion’s best throw this season came in the Lausanne stage of the Diamond League last month, in which he covered a distance of 89.49 meters, which was also the second best effort of his career. Interestingly, this distance was four centimeters more than his silver medal winning effort in Paris about 15 days ago.
Neeraj Chopra has been struggling with his fitness this season and is expected to see a doctor to fix his injury. This injury has troubled him throughout the season and has hindered his target of touching the 90 meter mark.
Misses Gold by just 1 cm despite fracture in hand
Neeraj Chopra posted on the social media platform X and wrote that As the 2024 season ends, I look back on everything I’ve learned through the year – about improvement, setbacks, mentality and more.
On Monday, I injured myself in practice and x-rays showed that I had fractured the fourth metacarpal in my left hand. It was another painful challenge for me. But with the help of my team, I was able to participate in Brussels.
This was the last competition of the year, and I wanted to end my season on the track. While I couldn’t meet my own expectations, I feel this was a season in which I learned a lot. I am now determined to return, fully fit and ready to go.”