Neeraj Chopra finishes second behind Weber in Diamond League final, says timing was off

India’s two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra finished runner-up for the third consecutive year at the Diamond League Finals, admitting that his timing was off during the competition. Germany’s Julian Weber delivered a dominant performance, launching two 90m-plus throws to clinch his maiden title.

Chopra was in third place until the fifth round, following his opening throw of 84.35m. However, his final effort of 85.01m pushed him into second place, overtaking 2012 London Olympics gold medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who finished third with a best throw of 84.95m.

"The timing was not so good today (Thursday), run-up was not so good. There is something I didn't find today, but I still have three weeks for the World Championships, and I will try my best," Chopra said after the event on Thursday.

He also expressed hopes of hitting his stride at the World Championships next month in Tokyo, where he is the defending champion. The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist had crossed 90m for the first time earlier this year at the Doha Diamond League, but has on numerous occasions said he needs to improve his technique to hit the mark consistently.

"This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the World Championships, so I still need to throw a little bit farther. There were a few things that went well, but still, there were the things which did not go that well," Chopra said. "In the last attempt, I still managed to throw 85. But I am very happy for Julian (Weber), he managed to throw really far, and to show 91m was really good. We will see in three weeks," he added. 

Chopra, who has been dealing with a right groin injury for a long time, added that he is in good shape for the Tokyo championship and that he was only looking to time his throw perfectly.

Weber took the top spot in the DL Finals, achieving a season's world-leading throw of 91.57m, his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with 91.37m effort, and after that it was a one-man show in the seven-man field.

None of Weber's rivals could even come near his mark, as his best effort of the day was over six metres more than that of Chopra. The German had a foul, 83.66m, 86.45m and 88.66m after his second throw.

Clearly, Chopra was not at his best as he had three legal throws out of the six attempts. Known for his consistency in producing 88m-plus throws, it was a rare instance of the 27-year-old Indian star just being able to touch the 85m mark.

He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third time after 2023 and 2024. However, Weber extended his head-to-head record against Chopra to 3-1 this season. The German had earlier beaten Chopra to second place in Doha DL in May and ORLEN Janusz Kusocinski Memorial event in Chorzow, Poland, the same month.

(With inputs from PTI)