Javelin star Neeraj Chopra’s season-best effort saw him finish second in the Diamond League meet on Thursday. He was struggling initially to give his best, before managing a throw of 89.49m on his final attempt. How did he overcome the lean start? According to Neeraj, it was advice from fellow javelin competitor Julius Yego which worked for him.
The 26-year-old Indian was at the fourth spot at the end of the fourth round before managing a throw of 85.58m in his fifth attempt that kept him inside the top three. Then his final attempt helped him finish second behind Grenada’s Anderson Peters (90.61m).
Only the top three after five rounds can make the final attempt.
The performance was a marginal improvement on the 89.45m he achieved in the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
“Peters threw 90m, my body didn’t feel good but the fighting spirit was nice. I really liked my comeback. In the last throw, I didn’t think too much, just gave my best,” Neeraj said after his event.
“In the first throw, I thought ‘I will do this, I will do that’... but in the last throw, I did not. Also, Julius Yego said ‘relax, you will throw far’. I tried to relax,” he added.
Kenyan Yego finished sixth with an effort of 83m.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who had beaten Neeraj for the gold in Paris with an Olympic record throw of 92.97m, was not part of the competition on Thursday.
Neeraj said the competition on the day was “strange” as he did not feel he was up to it when he started.
“...in the beginning, I did not think I would throw very far, but in the end it was good,” he said. “Even though my early throws were around 80-83m, I pushed hard in the last two attempts finishing strong. Competing at this high level, it’s important to stay mentally tough and fight through.”
Asked if he would compete again this season, the Indian said: “Maybe one or two
competitions and then finish the season. I am not sure, maybe Brussels (Diamond League finale).”
With seven points from Thursday’s second-place finish, Neeraj is joint third alongside Julian Weber of Germany 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 the second spot with 16 points.
This season’s Diamond League finals will be held in Brussels on September 14. One needs to finish in the top six of the series standings to qualify for the finale. Neeraj had finished second behind Vadlejch in the winner-takes-all Diamond League final in Eugene, USA, last year.
Nursing a long-standing groin injury, Neeraj claimed a silver in the Paris Olympics on August 8 adding to his gold in the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.
On his goals for next year, Neeraj said getting back to full fitness would be his priority.
“First goal, go to the doctor and make my groin 100 per cent fit and also I will be technically better and try to throw far again.”
