Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished runner-up in the Diamond League finals on Thursday (August 28) in Zurich, with German athlete Julian Weber winning the trophy with two 90m-plus throws. This is the third time in a row that Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist, failed to clinch the trophy.

Chopra was lying third till the fifth round following his opening throw of 84.35m before his final effort of 85.01m took him to the second spot, overtaking 2012 London Olympics gold winner Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who ended third with 84.95m.

Weber achieved a season world-leading throw of 91.57m, his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with 91.37m effort, and after that, it was a one-man show in the seven-man field.

None of Weber’s rivals could even come near his mark, as his best effort of the day was over 6m more than that of Chopra. The German had a foul, 83.66m, 86.45m and 88.66m after his second throw.

Chopra had three legal throws out of the six attempts. Three throws were fouled. It wasn’t the best performance of Chopra. He has been known for his consistency in throwing the javelin at a length of 88m-plus. However, during the finale, he managed to reach the 85m mark, a rare instance for the player.

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He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third time after 2023 and 2024.

Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada was fourth with 82.06m.

He began with 84.35m in his first throw, followed by 82m and a foul. At the halfway mark, he was in the third spot. His fourth and fifth attempts went foul. His last throw reached 85.01m.

“This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the world championships, so I still need to throw a little bit further. There were a few things that went well, but still, there were things that did not go that well,” Chopra said after the event.

“In the last attempt, I still managed to throw 85. But I am very happy for Julian today – he managed to throw really far, and to show 91m was really good. We will see in three weeks.”

“I still need to train a little bit. In this sport, we do not know. It depends on the day.”

Chopra said everything “will be different” in Tokyo during the World Championships (September 13-21).

Julian a good friend: Chopra

“Julian, he is a good friend of mine and I am always happy when he is doing well and we push each other. There will be some friends from India coming to cheer for me in Tokyo.

“I have some friends who live there. At major championships, the gold is more important than the far throws. So I will try my best to win the medal.” Weber’s effort was also his third 90m-plus throw of the season as well as his career. He had breached the coveted 90m mark with a 91.06m throw while winning the Doha DL title on May 16.

Chopra also breached the 90m mark for the first time in Doha with a throw of 90.23m but finished second behind Weber.

His performance this season is a setback for him ahead of the World Championship tournament, scheduled next month in Tokyo. It is worth noting that he is a defending champion.

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Weber’s feat

With Thursday’s title, Weber extended head-to-head record against Chopra to 3-1 this season. The German had earlier beaten Chopra to second place in Doha DL in May and ORLEN Janusz Kusocinski Memorial event in Chorzow, Poland, the same month.

Chopra won in Paris DL in June with Weber finishing second.

However, Chopra leads Weber in overall head-to-head record by a wide margin of 15-5 in competitions involving the duo since 2016.

For the record, Chopra had not finished outside second place since June 2021.

He had skipped the Silesia and Brussels legs of DL on August 16 and August 22 respectively, but qualified for the Finals here in fourth spot with 15 points. The top six in the points table from the four meetings qualify for the Finals here.

There were four Diamond League meetings which featured men’s javelin throw, and Chopra competed in only two — in Doha in May and Paris in June. He had finished second in Doha and won the title in Paris.

Chopra’s last event was the NC Classic in Bengaluru on July 5 which he hosted and won with a throw of 86.18m.

(With inputs from agencies)