Neeraj Chopra finishes second in Diamond League final; Anderson Peters lifts title

Paris Olympics silver medallist Neeraj Chopra fell short of securing one more title by just 1 centimetre as he finished second in the Diamond League final on Sunday with a best throw of 87.86 metres at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a Diamond League Trophy in 2022.

Grenada's Anderson Peters, a Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medallist, won his first Diamond League title with an effort of 87.87 m. The 2023 European Games champion Julian Weber of Germany was third with a distance of 85.97 m.

Czechia's Jakub Vadlejch did not feature in the entry list and was replaced by Belgium's Timothy Herman, who eventually finished last with a throw of 76.46 m.

Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra was off to a good start, producing an 86.82m throw for second place behind Peters, whose winning throw came off in the opening round. Julian Weber also hit his best on his first attempt. Chopra followed up his first throw with an 83.49 m. 

He threatened to overtake Peters on his third attempt but fell short by one centimetre. The Indian javelin ace's subsequent throws read 82.04m, 83.30 m, and 86.46 m. This was Neeraj Chopra's fifth appearance in the Diamond League final. He finished seventh in 2017, fourth in the following year and won the Diamond League crown in 2022 with an 88.44m throw. 

Last year, Neeraj Chopra finished second behind Jakub Vadlejch with an effort of 83.80m.The 26-year-old Neeraj accumulated 14 points across two Diamond League meets this season to qualify for the final. Chopra finished second in both the Doha leg in May and the Lausanne event last month to finish fourth on the overall points table. A total of seven athletes participated in the men's javelin throw final.

Chopra had set a national record of 89.94 at the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League in 2022 and landed his career's second-best of 89.49 m at the Lausanne meet last month. His silver-winning effort in Paris was an impressive 89.45 m. 

(This story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)