Neeraj Chopra finishes second in Diamond League Final

Neeraj Chopra finished 2nd in DL Finals, failing to defend his title with a throw of 83.80m. Jakub Vadlejch won 3rd DL title with 84.24m. Neeraj won 2 DL meets & historic gold in Worlds. He'll defend gold at Hangzhou Asian Games

Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra failed to defend his Diamond League champion’s title as he finished second with a modest performance of 83.80m here on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Chopra struggled in the windy conditions in the grand finale at the Hayward Field as he fouled his two attempts. His best throw of the day came in the second attempt. His series read foul, 83.80m, 81.37m, foul, 80.74 and 80.90m.

This was his first below 85m throw of the season. He had qualified for the DL Finals at the third spot. He had won the 2022 DL Finals in Zurich with a throw of 88.44m.

Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic became the Diamond League champion for the third time with a best throw of 84.24m which came in his sixth and final attempt. He was leading the six-man field from the beginning following his first round effort of 84.01m.

Vadlejch, who won bronze in Budapest Worlds and silver in Tokyo Olympics behind Chopra, had also clinched the DL title in 2017 and 2018 also.

This was the same venue where Chopra had finished second in the 2022 World Championships.

The Indian, who has a personal best of 89.94m, won two individual DL meetings in Doha on May 5 and Lausanne on June 30 before clinching a historic gold in the World Championships last month.