Neeraj Chopra favourite to script history again with Zurich Diamond League 2022 Champion title awaiting-Sports News , Firstpost

India’s reigning Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra is among the favourites to script history again on Thursday night as he could become the first Indian to win a Zurich Diamond League title.

The Zurich grand final — after 12 rounds of Diamond League meets in the calendar year — started on Wednesday with the finest track and field stars from all around the globe competing at the Stadion Letzigrund.

Javelin star Chopra booked his spot in Zurich in style by winning the Lausanne Diamond League with an 89.08-meter throw late last month. The victory marked the 24-year-old athlete’s return after a month-long injury lay-off that also forced him to miss Commonwealth Games.

Chopra finished inside the required top-six finish with a fourth spot in the javelin throw standings. His first spot in Zurich (8 points) and second place in Stockholm (7 points with 89.94m throw) took his points tally to 15 points. Chopra didn’t participate in the two of the Diamond meets that included men’s javelin in Doha (13 May) and Silesia (6 August).

Watch: Neeraj Chopra’s 89.08m throw that landed him top place in Lausanne Diamond League

No Anderson Peters in the entry list

World Champion Anderson Peters won’t feature in the finale despite finishing second in the standing. The 24-year-old Grenadian is expectedly yet to recover from the injury he sustained during an assault in his homeland days after beating Chopra to the Worlds title.

This leaves the Indian with his five remaining rivals on the night in Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic), Julian Weber (Germany), Curtis Thompson (USA), Patriks Gailums (Latvia), and Leandro Ramos (Portugal).

Vadlejch and Weber (finished first and second respectively in the standing) are two of the expected threats for Neeraj on the night.

Vadlejch, a two-time Diamond League final winner, has years of experience behind him at the age of 31. The Czech, who took silver at Tokyo Olympics, is in good shape leading into the final as he has been consistently throwing 87m-plus this season. He also breached the 90m mark for the first time in his career. 90.88m — a personal best for him — came back in May during the Doha Diamond League.

However, Chopra has a psychological edge over his Czech rival. At any competition the duo participated in since the Tokyo Olympics, Vadlejch has never got better off the Indian.

Weber, on the other hand, is on a comeback trail this year as the 28-year-old German improved on his personal best twice this year since 2016 (88.29m) to 89.54m at the prestigious FBK Games back in June. Weber was also crowned the European Champion last month as he defeated Vadljech in Poland.

Is Chopra exhausted yet to throw 90m?

Chopra’s recent form suggests the final is his for the taking and could end the international season on a high with a maiden 90m throw. The star came close to breaching the mark in Stockholm in late June with an 89.94m throw. He recorded 89.30m at Paavo Nurmi Games in the same month, to speak of the form Chopra has been this season. Subsequently, he hurled the javelin 88.13m for a historic silver medal at the World Championships in July.

However, competing this late in the year is a bit of uncharted territory for the Olympic champion as the last time Chopra competed in September was back in 2018. Back then, he represented Asia at the now-defunct IAAF Continental Championships in Ostrava. He finished a lowly sixth at the event and came right after the highs of the Jakarta Asian Games, where he took the gold medal with a new national record throw of 88.06m.

However, it’s worth mentioning that one of his throws seemed 85-plus but landed outside the recordable sector, therefore was red flagged. At a national tournament in Jalandhar 10 days later, Chopra could only produce a throw of 83.90m, suggesting he had already peaked for the season.

There were also some concerns over his fitness during the Lausanne event when he decided not to throw twice out of his eligible six throws to ensure he doesn’t risk another injury on return.

But keeping in mind that the now-postponed Asian Games — originally slated 10-25 September — would have been part of the calendar year, Neeraj and his coach Bartonietz Klaus would have geared up for a longer season. And the opportunity to finish on a high with a historic title on Thursday certainly must have attracted the interest of a star athlete like Neeraj Chopra.

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