Chopra aims to end DL run with trophy in Final, eyes another 90m throw

Zurich, Aug 27 (PTI) Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra seems primed to reclaim the Diamond League trophy with a repeat of the 90m show that has been the highlight of his season so far when the prestigious 14-leg series draws to a close here on Thursday.

There were four Diamond League meetings which featured men's javelin throw, and Chopra competed in only two, qualifying for the Finals at fourth place with 15 points.

He skipped the Silesia and Brussels legs on August 16 and August 22 respectively. He last won the DL trophy in 2022. The top six in the points table from the four meetings qualify for the Finals here.

Since there are 32 events, both male and female, the DL Final is spread over two days.

Six events -- men's and women's pole vault, men's and women's shot put, men's long jump, and women's high jump -- are being held on Wednesday, all street events in the Swiss city's Sechselautenplatz.

The remaining 26 events will, however, be held inside the Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday.

The winner of each event at Diamond League Final will be named this year's champion and get a DL trophy as well as prize money ranging from USD 30,000 to USD50,000 and wild card entries to next month's World Championships in Tokyo.

A thrilling contest is on the cards in men's javelin with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and Paris Games silver winner Chopra facing defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada as well as Germany's Julian Weber in the seven-man final.

Kenya's 2015 world champion Julius Yego, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, and Andrian Mardare of Moldova entered the field as athletes in the top-6 in the points table, while Simon Wieland of Switzerland was also added as the host country's entry.

Peters is also a two-time world champion though his form has not been the best in recent times. He has a season's best of 85.64m -- while finishing third in Doha -- so far.

Weber has the longest throw of this year at 91.06m which he produced to beat Chopra in Doha DL on May 16.

Chopra finally breached the 90m mark at Doha with a 90.23m though he finished second behind Weber. The 27-year-old Indian superstar then won the Paris leg on June 20 with a throw of 88.16m while Weber finished second with 87.88m.

The Indian star's 90.23m in Doha DL is the third longest throw of the season.

Luiz Mauricio Da Silva has the second longest of the season -- 91m -- but he has not qualified for the DL Final. Only three javelin throwers could breach the 90m mark so far this season.

Chopra's last event was the NC Classic in Bengaluru on July 5 which he hosted and won with a throw of 86.18m.

Chopra and the 30-year-old Weber have finished 1-2 alternately in the two DL clashes this season, and the contest for glory here is also expected to be between the two.

It has been an eventful year for Chopra. He first achieved the long-awaited 90m throw early in the season, then realised his dream of hosting and competing in a quality event in front of home fans at the NC Classic on July 5 in Bengaluru.

On Thursday, he will attempt to regain the DL Trophy which he had won in 2022. He finished runner-up in 2023 and 2024 to Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic and Peterson respectively.

A win here on Thursday will be a perfect build-up and morale-booster ahead of his defence of the World Championships crown next month in Tokyo where the competition will be stiffer.

Quest for technical improvement ==================== Chopra had won the NC Classic title under extremely windy conditions. Last month, he had said that he was working on making improvements in his technique with his coach -- the legendary Jan Zelezny.

"There are a few things I have to improve in my training, and I am working on run-up, throwing it straight, and on blocking legs," he had said last month.

"I need some more control when I throw. I go left quickly and need to throw to the front like with the chest and go up with the javelin. We are working on it." PTI PDS PM PDS PM PM