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Preview: After his heroics in World Athletics Championships in Budapest last month, ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be aiming to add another gold medal to his collection when he defends his Wanda Diamond League title in the season finale in Eugene, USA on Saturday. Chopra had become the first Indian to win gold in the Diamond League final, achieving a top-of-the-podium finish with a best throw of 88.44m in Zurich in September last year. The victory came two months after he won silver at the World Championships at Eugene’s Hayward Field. And it is incidentally in Eugene in the Pacific-Northwestern state of Oregon where Chopra returns, this time eyeing back-to-back Diamond League Final wins. Chopra, who became only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, achieved another first last month when he became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the World Championships. Chopra finished ahead of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem and Czech Republic’ Jakub Vadlejch with a best throw of 88.17 metres in his second attempt, becoming one of three athletes to have ever won the Olympic and World Championships double in men’s javelin.
Diamond League Finals 2023 Highlights: Neeraj Chopra finishes 2nd with 83.80m throw; Jakub Vadlejch crowned champion
Diamond League Finals 2023 Eugene Highlights: Neeraj Chopra misses out on the top spot by a whisker, surrendering the crown to Czech rival Jakub Vadlejch.
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That brings us to the end of our coverage of the men’s javelin throw event in the 2023 Eugene Diamond League Finals, with Neeraj Chopra missing out on the top spot by a whisker, surrendering the crown to Czech rival Jakub Vadlejch.
A big thank you to all those who tuned in to our live coverage. On behalf of my colleagues at Firstpost, this is Amit wishing you all a good night and a happy Sunday ahead!
Here are the final standings of the men’s javelin throw event in the 2023 Wanda Diamond League Finals at Eugene’s Hayward Field (courtesy: Wanda Diamond League)
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
NEERAJ CHOPRA FINISHES 2nd!
He registers an attempt of 80.90m in his final attempt to surrender the crown to World Championships bronze medallist Jakub Vadlejch even before the latter can put in his final throw.
Vadlejch then finishes with his best effort of the day in his final attempt — 84.24 metres — to be crowned the new champion!
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
Oliver Helander registers a final attempt of 80.98m, and is set to finish at the third spot in the men’s javelin throw final!
Neeraj Chopra and Jakub Vadlejch to battle it out for gold in the business end of the final!
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
Right then, the final round of attempts are underway, and this is it as far as Neeraj Chopra’s title defence is concerned!
Anderson Peters and Curtis Thompson start off with fouls, and will finish fifth and sixth respectively.
Andrian Mardare produces his best effort yet — 81.79m — but remains at the fourth spot.
After five attempts (courtesy: Wanda Diamond League)
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
Chopra registers 80.74m in his fifth attempt. He has just one more attempt to try and go past Vadlejch’s 84.01m that he registered in his first throw!
After three consecutive fouls, Vadlejch registers 82.58m in his fifth attempt.
One more round to go!
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
Poor start for Peters in the fifth round of attempts, registering 70.65 — the shortest throw among the successful attempts in the final. Andrian Mardare registers 80.28m. Curtis Thompson and Oliver Helander end up with fouls in their penultimate attempts — a second on the trot for the Finn.
Chopra and Vadlejch next.
Here’s how things stand after four attempts (courtesy: Wanda Diamond League)
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
A second foul of the evening for Neeraj, and he has two more attempts to try and win back-to-back Diamond League Finals after this.
Vadlejch, meanwhile, completes a hat-trick of fouls now. But more importantly, remains at the top position thanks to his first attempt.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
Oliver Helander fouls in his fourth attempt — the first time he’s got an X against his name today! Chopra and Vadlejch are next.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
The fourth round of attempts are underway, and Grenada’s Anderson Peters goes first. He registers 74.71m. That is followed by Curtis Thompson (76.57m) and Andrian Mardare (78.18m) respectively.
Here’s a detailed look at how the six finalists in men’s javelin have performed so far (courtesy: Wanda Diamond League)
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Neeraj Chopra is still 2nd, after registering a throw of 81.37m in his third attempt.
Finland’s Oliver Helander, meanwhile, inches closer to Chopra for the silver medal spot with an attempt of 83.74m in his third attempt.
Jakub Vadlejch fouls for a second consecutive time. But his first attempt of 84.01 is yet to be breached.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
A much better effort from Neeraj Chopra, who moves to the 2nd spot with an effort of 83.80m in his second attempt!
Vadlejch, meanwhile, ends up with an ‘X’ against his name with a foul in his second attempt.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Finland’s Helander dishes out a much better effort of 83.67m in his second attempt to close in Vadlejch’s first attempt. Mardare (78.05m), Thompson (77.01m) and Peters (73.90m) fail to breach the 80m mark in their second attempts.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Jakub Vadlejch, who finished third behind Chopra and Arshad Nadeem in the Budapest World Championships, seizes the lead with a throw of 84.01m in his first attempt!
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
FOUL for Neeraj Chopra first up! The defending Olympic and world champion starts off with a cross against his name.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Oliver Helander is next. And he starts off with an effort of 78.66m. India’s Neeraj Chopra is next.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE
USA’s Curtis Thompson goes first. And he starts with an attempt of 74.16m. Andrian Mardare and Anderson Peters are next and they register throws of 80.22m and 70.83m respectively.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Less than 10 minutes to go for the start of the men’s javelin finals. Stay tuned for more updates.
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
ICYMI: Among those who came to watch Neeraj Chopra compete in the final of the men’s javelin throw in the Zurich Diamond League meet earlier this month was Swiss tennis legend and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.
Watch: Roger Federer watches Zurich Diamond League featuring Neeraj Chopra
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Here are all the athletes who will be in action in the men’s javelin final in Eugene tonight:
Neeraj Chopra (India) (Defending champion)
Oliver Helander (Finland)
Andrian Mardare (Moldova)
Anderson Peters (Grenada)
Curtis Thompson (United States)
Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic)
Diamond League 2023 Finals LIVE:
Chorpa is also the only Indian athlete to compete in the 2023 final after men’s long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable decided to skip the event to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Asian Games start on 23 September.
If Neeraj manages to defend his title then he will become only the third man to defend the Diamond League final trophy in javelin. The format of the Diamond League however has changed since 2017.
Preview: Neeraj Chopra looks to defend Diamond League trophy in Eugene