Neeraj Chopra Scripts History Yet Again, Wins Lausanne Diamond League With 89.08m Throw

The youngster from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana became the first Indian to win a Diamond League crown.

Lausanne: The golden boy of India, Neeraj Chopra announces his comeback in style as the Javelin thrower clinched a historic Diamond League Title here on Friday. The 24-year-old Chopra, who was forced to pull out of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games (CWG 2022) due to a groin injury he had suffered while winning a silver during the World Championships last month, hurled the spear to 89.08m in his first attempt to seal the win in style.

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HE’S DONE IT!🇮🇳

IIS athlete #NeerajChopra becomes the FIRST EVER Indian to win at the Diamond League, finishing top of the pile at the #LausanneDL with a MASSIVE throw of 89.08m in his very first attempt⚡️

He qualifies for the Diamond League final, in Zurich. #CraftingVictories pic.twitter.com/zbxbqrlWnD

— Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) August 26, 2022

Chopra rested and rehabilitated for a month but it looked like the injury had not happened at all as he continued his vintage form. The 89.08m throw was his third career-best effort. His second throw measured 85.18m before passing on his third attempt.

His fourth throw was a foul while he again passed his fifth attempt before coming up with 80.04m in the sixth and last round. Only the top three after the fifth round get the sixth throw.

The youngster from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana became the first Indian to win a Diamond League crown.

Before Chopra, discus thrower Vikas Gowda is the only Indian to have finished in top-three in a Diamond League Meeting. Gowda had finished second twice — in New York in 2012 and in Doha in 2014 — and third on two occasions — Shanghai and Eugene in 2015.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch finished second with a best throw of 85.88m while Curtis Thompson of USA was third with a best effort of 83.72m.

Chopra also qualified for the Diamond League Finals in Zurich on September 7 and 8. He also became the first Indian to do so. He also qualified for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary by breaching the 85.20m qualifying mark.

Chopra had finished second in the Stockholm leg of the prestigious event behind world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada with a national record throw of 89.94m, just 6cm short of the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin throw.

Peters is recovering from an injury after he was assaulted inside a boat in his country earlier this month.

In the World Championships in Eugene, USA, he was not in the medal position till the third round but here Chopra was leading from the first throw till the end though the eight-man field was not so strong.

Inputs from PTI