Neeraj Chopra wins Diamond League javelin throw title in Doha

India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra on Friday night (May 5) claimed the javelin throw title in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar.

This was Chopra’s first event of the season and he has begun on a great note. He won the title with a world-leading effort of 88.67 metres, which was achieved in his first attempt.

The 25-year-old Chopra, also a 2022 World Championships silver winner, faced the likes of reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic in a star-studded field at the Qatar Sports Club.

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Vadlejch was second with his season’s best of 88.63 metres while Peters took the third spot with his season’s best of 85.88 metres.

Chopra, who has a personal best and national record of 89.94m, had finished fourth with 87.43m in 2018 in the only other participation in the Doha Diamond League. He could not take part in Doha last year due to lack of “overall fitness and strength”.

Despite missing the Doha leg, Chopra went on to script history one after the other last year. He became the first Indian Diamond League champion after winning the 2022 grand finale in Zurich in September. A month before that, he became the first Indian to win a Diamond League Meeting in Lausanne.

Also read: Neeraj Chopra scripts history with Diamond League win

The Diamond League is track and field’s most prestigious series sitting in the top tier of World Athletics’ one-day competitions. The 2023 Diamond League comprises 13 meetings, starting with the Doha event leading up to the two-day Diamond League Final in Eugene, USA, on September 16-17.

Doha Diamond League 2023 men’s javelin throw results

(With agency inputs)