Neeraj Chopra returned to action after almost a month-long injury and what a comeback it is. The Tokyo Olympics champion won his second consecutive Diamond League at Lausanne in Switzerland with a throw of 87.66m. Neeraj continues to lead the Men's Javelin Throw ranking in Diamond League after 2 meetings. Muscle strain had kept Neeraj out of action for a month as he missed two key events - FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands on June 4 and Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 13.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Watch Neeraj's best throw at Lausanne Diamond League here:



It was a bad start for Neeraj in the competition as he committed a foul with his rival Germany's Julian Weber getting off to a brilliant start. Weber threw 86.20m to take an early lead. Chopra's second best throw was correct but it went to a distance of just 83.52m. He was clearly under pressure. His third throw went to a distance of 85.04m and that throw helped him go past Jakub Vadlejch's best throw. One could see Neeraj's performance improving with every throw now. The fifth attempt was Neeraj's best and it also got him the win in Lausanne. He threw 87.66m which put pressure on his rivals who could not match the distance in their remaining attempts. 


Weber's best on the night was 87.03m while Vadlejch's best throw was 86.13m. Neeraj's last throw went to 84.15m. This is how his performance looked like after 6 throws: x, 83.52, 85.04, x, 87.66, 84.15. 



Neeraj had earlier won the Doha Diamond League 2023 and this is second back-to-back victory in the competition. The fact that it came while playing in a strong field that consisted of Anderson Peters, Vadlejch and Weber must have given him and his team a huge boost of confidence.


Not to forget, there was another Indian in the competition in form of Murali Shreeshankar who finished fifth in the men's long jump. Murali jumped 7.88m on the match day.