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Watch: Neeraj Chopra's 88.44m throw in Diamond League adds another golden chapter in Indian athletics history
Neeraj won the elusive gold at the Diamond League in Zurich with an incredible throw of 88.44m, which came in his second attempt during the men's javelin competition.
After a gold in Tokyo Olympics, silver in World Championships, Neeraj Chopra has now gifted himself a Diamond as the 24-year-old Indian superstar on Thursday scripted an incredible piece of history, becoming the first ever athlete from the country to in the prestigious Diamond League Finals title. Neeraj won the elusive gold at the Diamond League in Zurich with an incredible throw of 88.44m, which came in his second attempt during the men's javelin competition.
It wasn't the best of starts for Neeraj as he began with a foul throw, but quickly established a lead in the contest, taking the top spot in the list with a superb second-attempt throw of 88.44m, which remans his fourth career-best attempt, and it eventually turned out to be a winning effort for the Indian. His next attempts were of 88.00m, 86.11m, 87.00m and 83.60m.
Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, who was also part of the competition, finished second with his best attempt of 86.94m which was recorded in his fourth throw. Julian Weber of Germany finished third with his best attempt of 83.73m
The 24-year-old Indian superstar is now the Olympic champion, World Championships silver medallist and Diamond League champion. All these he had achieved in just 13 months. He had won the Olympic gold on August 7 last year in Tokyo.
He has produced 88m-plus throw six times this season which showed his consistency. He holds the national record of 89.94m, which he achieved this season.
Chopra also ended his international season with a history-scripting performance. The Diamond League Finals can be considered as the most prestigious competition outside of Olympics and World Championships.
It was Chopra's third appearance in the Diamond League Finals. He had finished seventh and fourth respectively in 2017 and 2018.
Chopra was also awarded a Diamond Trophy, USD 30,000 prize money and a wild card for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
(with PTI inputs)
