• Source:JND
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India's star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished second at the Diamond League meet in Zurich on Friday as he recorded his best throw of 85.71m that came in his sixth and last attempt.

Neeraj was outshined by Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch who clinched the title with his best throw of 85.86m, despite committing a foul in his last attempt.

The reigning Olympic Champion Neeraj had a disappointing outing at the event as he committed multiple fouls out of his six attempts before he bounced back in the final one.

Chopra started off with an 80.79m throw in his first attempt. He then committed a foul in his second and third attempts, which took him down to fifth position, with Germany’s Julian Weber leading the standings.

He got back up with an improved throw of 85.22m in his fourth attempt, taking him to second place behind leader Jakub Vadlejch.

Chopra committed another foul in his fifth attempt to stay second behind Vadlejch. In his final attempt, Chopra threw a distance of 85.71m, almost overtaking Vadlejch’s best attempt of 85.86m.

The 25-year-old Chopra headed to the event a few days after creating history at the World Athletics Championships 2023, held in Budapest, Hungary as he became the first Indian to win a gold medal. He achieved this feat with a best throw of 88.17m in the men's javelin final.

He had made it to the finals of the enormous event with his very first throw (88.77m) and came up on top in the final against a field of world-class throwers. He also qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 with his effort in the qualifying round.

After claiming the second position in Zurich, Neeraj continued his promising run in Diamond League competitions, having won the competition in 2022 in the same city with a throw of 88.44m. He would then carry this form into 2023 as he won in Doha and followed it up with victory in Lausanne with a throw of 87.67m.

India's Murali Sreeshankar finished at the fifth position in the men's long jump event as he registered his best jump of 7.99m that came in his very first attempt.

Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou, in his final attempt, came up with an 8.20m jump to win the event with Jamaican Tajay Clarke (8.07m) and United States' Jarrion Lawson (8.05m) finishing at the second and third position respectively.