Lausanne Diamond League 2023: Neeraj Chopra wins javelin throw competition on return
India’s Neeraj Chopra, competing in his first event since the Doha leg, finished top with an 87.66m throw. Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth in the long jump. Get all results.
Athletics
India’s Neeraj Chopra won the men’s javelin throw event at the Lausanne Diamond League 2023 in Switzerland on Saturday.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, who won the javelin throw event at the season-opening Doha leg with an 88.67m attempt in May, picked up his second successive victory with an 87.66m effort, which came in his fifth attempt of the night.
The Lausanne meet was Neeraj Chopra’s second competition of the season and the first since the Doha Diamond League. The Indian ace was forced to withdraw from three events in June – FBK Games in the Netherlands, Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland and the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic – due to a muscle strain he sustained during training.
"I was feeling a bit nervous coming back from an injury," Neeraj Chopra said. "It was a bit cold here tonight. I am still far from my best, but I feel it is getting better. I am relieved it´s coming together well for me. A win is a win and I will take that happily."
Competing at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Neeraj Chopra, who holds the men’s javelin national record of 89.94m, fouled his first attempt as Germany’s Julian Weber set the initial mark with an 86.20m throw. The Indian ace opened his account with an 83.52m effort with his second throw and rose to the third position.
Neeraj Chopra logged 85.04m with his third throw to jump up to second but his fourth was a no mark. The Indian champion finally took the top spot with an 87.66 mark with his penultimate attempt and it proved enough to bag the win.
Weber’s final throw of 87.03m handed him the second position while Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and the current world leader, finished third with an 86.13m mark.
Reigning world javelin champion Anderson Peters from Grenada (82.23m) endured a difficult outing and finished fifth.
Neeraj Chopra’s attempts at Lausanne Diamond League 2023: No mark, 83.52m, 85.04m, No mark, 87.66m, 84.15m
Courtesy of the top-place finish, Neeraj Chopra earned eight more qualification points from the Lausanne leg. With 16 points from two outings, the Indian currently leads the 2023 Diamond League qualification rankings in men’s javelin throw.
Athletes are awarded points instead of medals for competing in each leg of the Diamond League series. The top six athletes in each event at the end of all the legs will qualify for the Diamond League Final in Eugene in September.
Last year, Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian athlete to become a Diamond League champion by winning the men’s javelin throw grand final in Zurich.
Lausanne Diamond League 2023 men’s javelin throw results
Murali Sreeshankar finishes fifth in men’s long jump
India’s Murali Sreeshankar, meanwhile, finished fifth in the men’s long jump event with a best effort of 7.88m.
Murali Sreeshankar, who had finished third at the Paris Diamond League 2023 last month with an attempt of 8.09m, logged a modest 7.75m with his first attempt, which put him behind Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, the reigning Olympic and Diamond League champion, and home favourite Simon Ehammer, the 2022 world championships bronze medallist, after the first round.
M Sreeshankar’s best effort of 7.88m came in his third jump but Bahamas’ LaQuan Nairn and Japan’s Yuki Hashioka’s efforts pushed Sreeshankar down to fifth.
LaQuan Nairn, the Commonwealth Games champion, eventually won the event with a season-best 8.11m effort, upsetting Miltiadis Tentoglou, who could manage 8.07m. Yuki Hashioka (7.98m) and Simon Ehammer (7.97m) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Sreeshankar earned four qualification points for his fifth-place finish and is currently third in the Diamond League 2023 final qualification rankings with 10 points.
Murali Sreeshankar’s attempts at Lausanne Diamond League 2023: 7.75m, 7.63m, 7.88m, 7.59m, 7.66m
Heading into the Athletissima 2023, Murali Sreeshankar had qualified for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in the men’s long jump event with a personal best of 8.41m at the recently concluded National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2023 in Bhubaneswar.
Sreeshankar’s mark in Bhubaneswar was just 0.01m off compatriot Jeswin Aldrin’s national record and world-leading mark of 8.42m achieved in March.
Jeswin Aldrin was in the initial entry list for the Lausanne Diamond League 2023 but the 21-year-old pulled out citing fitness issues.