Neeraj Chopra overcomes physical struggles to win silver at Lausanne Diamond League

Lausanne (Switzerland): Neeraj Chopra’s determination shone through at the Lausanne Diamond League 2024 on Saturday IST as he clinched a silver medal with a throw of 89.49 meters, despite facing physical discomfort and an initially challenging performance.

The Indian javelin ace struggled with his body feeling off, which made the competition particularly arduous. “In the beginning, it was really difficult. My body didn’t feel good,” Chopra admitted. “But I pushed myself mentally in the last attempt because Peters threw 90 meters.

Although my body didn’t feel good, the fighting spirit was really nice today. I really liked that comeback with my second-best throw.”

Chopra’s resilience was further bolstered by crucial advice from Kenyan former world champion Julius Yego. “I was thinking too much about needing to do this, to do that. But Julius Yego told me, ‘Stay relaxed, you will throw far.’ So, I tried to stay relaxed, didn’t think much and hit it clean,” Chopra shared after the event.

The silver medal win came two weeks after Chopra’s silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he threw 89.45 meters. Despite an underwhelming start where he failed to breach the 84-meter mark with his first four attempts, Chopra found his rhythm in the final throws. He climbed to third place with a throw of 85.58 meters on his penultimate attempt before delivering his season’s best on his final attempt.

Chopra narrowly missed the 90-meter mark, with Grenada’s Anderson Peters taking the top spot with a new meet record throw of 90.61 meters.

Chopra, the 2022 Diamond League champion, will next compete in the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium, on September 14, where he will look to continue his impressive form.