For Neeraj Chopra, impossible is nothing except for breaching the elusive 90m mark, it seems. In a fortnight, Neeraj broke his season best thrice and yet fell agonisingly short of the magical distance. But, for now, we won’t focus on that; rather, we shouldn’t. Simply because of the exceptional comeback – perhaps the best in his decorated career – Neeraj showcased in the Lausanne Diamond League 2024 on Thursday.
The two-time Olympic medalist javelin thrower stole the second spot from Julian Weber of Germany and came tantalisingly close to toppling Granada’s Anderson Peters from the top spot with a monster 89.49m throw in his final attempt. It was four centimetres more than the throw that earned him the silver medal at the Paris Olympics exactly a couple of weeks ago.
On Thursday, in Lausanne, it earned him the second spot behind Two-time world champion and Paris Olympics bronze medallist Anderson Peters, who broke Keshorn Walcott’s nine-year-old meeting record (90.16m) in his last attempt with an immaculate throw of 90.61m.
Peters never lost the top spot in the Luasanne men’s javelin event. Right from the onset, he took the lead and improved it with each throw. It wasn’t the same for India’s Neeraj. The legendary Indian athlete was in fact, in danger of missing a top-three finish.
The 26-year-old Chopra was in the fourth spot till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m in his fifth attempt to storm past Artur Felfner of Ukraine and take the third spot, which also sent him in the final round along with Webber and Peters.
The Paris Olympics silver medalist was the last to throw based on the standings and he needed something special to improve his standing. And he did.
Neeraj screamed as soon as the javelin left his hand, ignoring his tumble near the white line in an acute similarity to the throw that gave him gold in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The javelin flew ever so close to the 90m mark and settled in at 89.49m – Neeraj’s season-best and enough to give him the second spot in the Lausanne Diamond League.
But Neeraj was not satisfied. He let a loud gry of anguish. The top spot had eluded him. The 90m mark had eluded him once again.
Anderson Peters, who was watching all this unfold from close quarters, breathed a sigh of relief. With a big smile on his face, he gave Neeraj a warm hug. Webber also congratulated the Indian – the three, after all, have been locked in javelin finals for the last four years and counting.
With seven points from Thursday’s second-place finish, Chopra will be joint third with Weber in the Diamond League standings with 15 points. Peters jumped to top spot with 21 points.
Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who finished seventh (82.03m) on Thursday, is in second spot with 16 points.
On Saturday, Chopra had confirmed his participation at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, leaving a decision on a possible surgery after the end of the season.
Chopra was the Diamond League champion in 2022 and finished second behind Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic in the winner-takes-all DL final in Eugene, USA, last year.
This season’s DL finals will be held in Brussels on September 14. He needs to finish in the top-six of the Diamond League meetings series standings to qualify for the season finale.
There is another DL meeting — in Zurich on September 5 — which has a men’s javelin throw event in its roster.