Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra secured his first top-3 finish at the celebrated Diamond League Meeting with a national record-breaking effort but narrowly missed the 90m mark on Thursday. World champion Anderson Peters of Grenada won the contest with a best throw of 90.3 in his third attempt.
The 24-year-old Chopra’s opening throw of 89.94m, just 6cm short of the 90m mark, the gold level in the world of javelin throw and that attempt resulted in his best as he finished second. His other throws measured 84.37m, 87.46m, 84.77m, 86.67, and 86.84m. Chopra had finished second in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on June 14 with his previous national record of 89.30m.
After the event, Chopra said, “Today, I feel good and after the first throw, I thought I could throw even over 90m today. But it is OK as I have more competitions coming this year”. “I am close to 90m now and I can throw it this year. Despite the fact that I did not win tonight, I feel very good because I did my best.”
Chopra has defeated Peters twice this month — in Turku where the Grenada athlete stood third and in the Kuortane Games, where the Indian champion had won gold with a best throw of 86.69m under unfavorable climatic conditions.
