Diamond League 2023 Final: Neeraj Chopra finishes second in javelin throw, Jakub Vadlejch takes the title

India’s Neeraj Chopra finished second in the men’s javelin throw event at the Diamond League 2023 Final in Eugene, Oregon, with a best effort of 83.80m on Saturday.

Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a Diamond League Trophy last year but could not defend his title at Hayward Field. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, the 2016 and 2017 Diamond League champion, won his third title with a best throw of 84.24m.

None of the athletes crossed the 85m mark in Eugene. Neeraj Chopra, who holds the Indian national record of 89.94m, won a world championship silver medal at the same venue last year with an 88.13m effort.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra began with a foul on his first attempt. The 25-year-old got off the mark with an 83.80m mark with his second throw and jumped to the second spot behind Jakub Vadlejch, who started with an 84.01m effort.

An 81.37m throw on the third attempt followed by another foul from Neeraj Chopra allowed Jakub Vadlejch to keep the lead despite the latter managing just one legal throw from the first four attempts.

Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch logged his best mark of the night with the final attempt to defeat Neeraj Chopra for the second time this year. Vadlejch had also beaten Neeraj Chopra at the Zurich Diamond League last month.

Finland’s Oliver Helander came third with an 83.74m throw.

Neeraj Chopra’s marks at Diamond League 2023 Final in Eugene: No mark, 83.80m, 81.37m, No mark, 80.74m, 80.90m

Two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada finished sixth with a 74.71m throw.

En route to the final in Eugene, Neeraj Chopra won the Doha and Lausanne legs of the 2023 Diamond League series but had to settle for the second position in Zurich. He qualified for the Diamond League Final with 23 points from three meetings while Jakub Vadlejch, who competed in all four qualifying events, topped with 29 points.

European Games champion Julian Weber came second in the Diamond League series with 25 points but missed the final due to injury.

The Diamond League Final was Neeraj Chopra’s penultimate outing this season. His next assignment will be to defend his title at the Asian Games 2023 starting in Hangzhou later this month.

cc: https://olympics.com/en/news/diamond-league-2023-final-eugene-neeraj-chopra-javelin-throw-result