Olympic winner Neeraj Chopra takes silver at the Diamond League Championships – Magazine Creations

The 25-year-old Chopra struggled in windy conditions in the grand final at Hayward Field as he missed his attempt. His best throw of the day came on the second attempt. His series read incorrectly, 83.80 AD, 81.37 AD, incorrectly, 80.74 and 80.90 AD.

It was his first throw under 85 meters this season. He qualified for the DL finals in third place. He won the 2022 DL Finals in Zurich with a throw of 88.44 metres.

Jakub Vadleč of the Czech Republic became the Diamond League champion for the third time with a best throw of 84.24 meters which came on his sixth and final attempt. He was leading the six-man field from the start after his first round attempt of 84.01 metres.

Vadlec, who won bronze at the World Championships in Budapest and silver at the Tokyo Olympics behind Chopra, won the DL in 2017 and 2018 as well.

This was the same place where Chopra finished second at the 2022 World Championships.

The Indian, who cleared a personal best of 89.94 metres, won two singles matches in Doha on May 5 and in Lausanne on June 30 before clinching a historic gold at the World Championships last month.

He became the third thrower in history to win both the Olympic and World Championships after winning the world title in Budapest with a throw of 88.17 metres.

A few days after winning the World Series title, he pitched in the Zurich DL on August 31 when he finished second behind Vadlečić.

Chopra will now head to the Asian Games in Hangzhou starting later this month where he will defend the gold medal he won in 2018 in Indonesia.

This story has been published from a news agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the title has changed.

Updated: Sep 17, 2023, 07:30 AM IST