UNITED STATES: Neeraj Chopra, the Olympic and world champion in javelin throw, faced challenging windy conditions at the Diamond League grand finals at Hayward Field and couldn’t defend his championship. Despite fouling two of his throws, his second throw of 83.80 meters was his best of the day.
It was the first time this season that Chopra recorded a throw shorter than 85 meters, but he secured the second place in the DL Finals. He had won the 2022 DL Finals in Zurich with a throw of 88.44 meters.
Jakub Vadlejch from the Czech Republic clinched the Diamond League title with a best throw of 84.24 meters on his sixth and final attempt, marking his third victory in the competition. He immediately took the lead with a first-round effort of 84.01 meters.
Vadlejch had previously won the DL championship in 2017 and 2018 and secured a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics and the Budapest World Championships, where he finished second to Chopra. Chopra had also won at the same venue during the 2022 World Championships.
Neeraj Chopra made history by winning a gold medal at the World Championships with a throw of 88.17 meters in Budapest, becoming only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both Olympic and World Championship titles. He also won two solo DL competitions in Doha and Lausanne.
Chopra had participated in the Zurich DL leg shortly after winning the World Championships title and finished second to Vadlejch. He is now preparing to defend his gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou later this month, following his victory in Indonesia in 2018.
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