Neeraj Chopra goals to finish Diamond League run with trophy in Final, eyes one other 90m throw

Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra appears primed to reclaim the Diamond League trophy with a repeat of the 90m present that has been the spotlight of his season to date when the celebrated 14-leg collection attracts to an in depth in Zurich on Thursday (August 28, 2025).

There have been 4 Diamond League conferences which featured males’s javelin throw, and Chopra competed in solely two, qualifying for the Finals at fourth place with 15 factors.

He skipped the Silesia and Brussels legs on August 16 and August 22 respectively. He final gained the DL trophy in 2022. The prime six within the factors desk from the 4 conferences qualify for the Finals right here.

Since there are 32 occasions, each female and male, the DL Final is unfold over two days.

Six occasions — males’s and ladies’s pole vault, males’s and ladies’s shot put, males’s lengthy soar, and ladies’s excessive soar — are being held on Wednesday, all avenue occasions within the Swiss metropolis’s Sechselautenplatz.

The remaining 26 occasions will, nevertheless, be held contained in the Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday.

The winner of every occasion at Diamond League Final will likely be named this yr’s champion and get a DL trophy in addition to prize cash starting from $30,000 to $50,000 and wild card entries to subsequent month’s World Championships in Tokyo.

An exhilarating contest is on the playing cards in males’s javelin with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and Paris Games silver winner Chopra dealing with defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada in addition to Germany’s Julian Weber within the seven-man ultimate.

Kenya’s 2015 world champion Julius Yego, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, and Andrian Mardare of Moldova entered the sector as athletes within the top-6 within the factors desk, whereas Simon Wieland of Switzerland was additionally added because the host nation’s entry.

Peters can also be a two-time world champion although his kind has not been one of the best in latest occasions. He has a season’s better of 85.64m — whereas ending third in Doha — to date.

Weber has the longest throw of this yr at 91.06m which he produced to beat Chopra in Doha DL on May 16.

Chopra lastly breached the 90m mark at Doha with a 90.23m although he completed second behind Weber. The 27-year-old Indian celebrity then gained the Paris leg on June 20 with a throw of 88.16m whereas Weber completed second with 87.88m.

The Indian star’s 90.23m in Doha DL is the third longest throw of the season.

Luiz Mauricio Da Silva has the second longest of the season — 91m — however he has not certified for the DL Final. Only three javelin throwers might breach the 90m mark to date this season.

Chopra’s final occasion was the NC Classic in Bengaluru on July 5 which he hosted and gained with a throw of 86.18m.

Chopra and the 30-year-old Weber have completed 1-2 alternately within the two DL clashes this season, and the competition for glory right here can also be anticipated to be between the 2.

It has been an eventful yr for Chopra. He first achieved the long-awaited 90m throw early within the season, then realised his dream of internet hosting and competing in a high quality occasion in entrance of residence followers on the NC Classic on July 5 in Bengaluru.

On Thursday, he’ll try to regain the DL Trophy which he had gained in 2022. He completed runner-up in 2023 and 2024 to Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic and Peterson respectively.

A win right here on Thursday will likely be an ideal build-up and morale-booster forward of his defence of the World Championships crown subsequent month in Tokyo the place the competitors will likely be stiffer.

Quest for technical enchancment

Chopra had gained the NC Classic title beneath extraordinarily windy circumstances. Last month, he had mentioned that he was engaged on making enhancements in his method together with his coach — the legendary Jan Zelezny.

“There are a few things I have to improve in my training, and I am working on run-up, throwing it straight, and on blocking legs,” he had mentioned final month.

“I need some more control when I throw. I go left quickly and need to throw to the front like with the chest and go up with the javelin. We are working on it.”