Neeraj Chopra creates history, wins Diamond League Final with 88.44m throw
Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win the Diamond League Finals, registering the best throw of 88.44m in the men's javelin throw event.
India's Neeraj Chopra created history on Thursday as he clinched the Diamond League title in men's javelin throw event, registering the best throw of 88.44m in his second attempt. This is the first time when an Indian has won the Diamond League title in the javelin throw event. Chopra had started as a favourite in the finals of the 2022 edition and had made a spectacular return to action after a month-long injury layoff in the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League series, where he had registered the best throw of 89.08m to clinch the top spot.
Chopra had missed the 2022 Commonwealth Games following an injury in the World Championships in July, where he won a silver medal.
In the Diamond League Finals, Chopra didn't have a good start as he committed a foul in the very first throw; Czech Republic's Jakub Valdejch had the best throw of 84.15m in the first attempt, which he bettered to 86m in the second. However, Chopra, who was last in the list to make an attempt, made a remarkable comeback to reach 88.44m mark and jump from sixth to the top spot.
The Indian 24-year-old star followed it up with another strong 88m throw in the event, which was also the second-best after the completion of three attempts.
Valdejch did make a bright return on his fourth, registering his best throw of the event at 86.94m but it wasn't enough to go past India's Olympic champion, who threw 86.11m and 87m long in the fourth and fifth attempts respectively. Chopra eventually ended the competition with an 83.60m throw.
Valdejch stood second with his best throw coming in the fourth attempt (86.94m), while Germany's Julian Weber was third with 83.73m throw (third attempt).
