Sports Desk: Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra failed to defend his Diamond League champion’s title, finishing second with a modest effort of 83.80m in the grand finale here.
The 25-year-old Chopra, who clinched his maiden World Championships gold last month, struggled to produce his best in the winner-takes-all Finals of the 13-leg one-day meeting series at the Hayward Field on Saturday night.
He fouled his two attempts and his best effort of the day came in the second throw, with the series reading foul, 83.80m, 81.37m, foul, 80.74 and 80.90m.
This was Chopra’s first below-85m throw of the season. He had qualified for the DL Finals at the third spot. He had won the 2022 DL Finals in Zurich with a throw of 88.44m.
No competitor could touch 85m under 25 degree Celsius temperature and 45 per cent humidity. Other field events held simultaneously showed wide variation in wind speed readings, though they are not known for javelin throw. Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic became the Diamond League champion for the third time with a best throw of 84.24m which came in his sixth and final attempt. He was leading the six-man field from the beginning following his first round effort of 84.01m.