Stockholm Diamond League: Neeraj Chopra breaks national record, inches closer to 90m mark
Neeraj Chopra broke the national record for the second time this month to finish second in Stockholm. All his six attempts were valid, with four throws measuring over 85m.
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra broke the national record again to finish second at the Stockholm Diamond League 2022 in Sweden on Thursday.
Neeraj Chopra’s first throw of 89.94m helped him better his personal best of 89.30m, set earlier this month at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. The Indian javelin ace fell just six centimetres short of the elusive 90m mark.
"Today, I feel good and after the first throw, I thought I could throw even over the 90m today," Neeraj Chopra said. "But it is OK as I have more competitions coming this year. I am close to 90m now and I can throw it this year.
"Despite the fact that I did not win tonight, I feel very good because I did my best," the Indian added.
World champion Anderson Peters of Grenada broke the 16-year-old meet record with a huge 90.31m throw in his third attempt, which was enough to get him the top finish.
"I am not really in a great shape - I have suffered a back injury," Peters said. "It is still getting better but I hope to be back in a really good shape soon.
"Getting the 90m throw was really good, I was very much motivated by Neeraj to get a 90m throw because he started the competition with a personal best and a national record and that was pretty good for the start," Anderson Peters pointed out.
World No. 4 Julian Weber of Germany finished third with an effort of 89.08m. Jakub Vadlejch, the 2016 Diamond League champion, was fourth after Julian pipped him with his penultimate throw.
After the record-breaking first throw, Neeraj Chopra logged 84.37m, 87.46m, 84.77m and 86.67m in his subsequent attempts and was one of the top three athletes who made it to the sixth attempt.
However, the 24-year-old Indian ace could only come up with 86.84m in his final attempt and finished behind Anderson Peters.
This was Neeraj Chopra’s eighth appearance in the Diamond League and his first top-three finish at the meet.
Neeraj Chopra pocketed seven points for the second-place finish in Stockholm and moved to fourth in the qualification standings of the Diamond League.
The top six athletes at the end of all qualification meetings will compete at the Diamond League Final in Zurich this September.
Neeraj Chopra had made an impressive return to competitive action after Tokyo 2020 earlier this month, breaking the national record with an 89.30m throw to clinch the silver at Paavo Nurmi Games before claiming gold at the Kuortane Games with an 86.69m throw.
The Stockholm Diamond League was Neeraj Chopra’s last event before the World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games in July.