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Post his Paris Olympics silver, all eyes were on Neeraj Chopra, who was headed for Diamond League, Lausanne. Organised by World Athletics, Diamond League 2024 saw the Olympics runner-up make big moves, and score the best shot of this season at 89.49m. Neeraj Chopra’s Diamond League score was 4 cms more than his throw at the Paris Olympics, and his second-best throw ever, only second to 89.94m, that was achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.
Despite all of this, at the Diamond League javelin throw this year, Chopra could only manage the silver, losing out to the sensational 90.61m throw by Grenada's Anderson Peters. His throw set a new record at the Diamond League 2024, and was his season best too. The third place was scored by Germany’s Julian Weber, with a best throw of 87.08m.
While Neeraj Chopra’s javelin Diamond League performance could only get him a silver, the athlete seemed content with it for now. As he was quoted post the event, “It was a tough start, but the comeback was really nice and I enjoyed the fighting spirit I showed. Even though my early throws were around 80-83 meters, I pushed hard in the last two attempts finishing strong. Competing at this high level, it’s important to stay mentally tough and fight through”.
This becomes even more important considering Neeraj Chopra’s Diamond League form and health were not up to the mark, and the admittedly sem-fit athlete has been struggling with injuries for a while now. The recovery has been slow and painful, but Chopra has been focused, and with his fighting spirit and grit, only deserves more applause.
For the uninitiated, Diamond League 2024, being held at multiple venues across the world is an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings. It started in April this year and will go on till the mid of September, with different competitions being held in different venues.