Neeraj Chopra misses out on Diamond League title by a whisker as Anderson Peters wins final in Brussels

Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra had to contend himself with yet another second-place finish this season after missing out on a second Diamond League crown in three years by the barest of margins.

Chopra finished runner-up in the Diamond League Final at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Saturday with a best effort of 87.86 metres in his third attempt which was just a centimetre short of Anderson Peters’ throw of 87.87m in his first attempt.

Grenada’s Peters had earlier beaten Chopra to the top spot in the Lausanne meet last month and ended up winning his maiden Diamond League crown by once again thwarting the Indian’s quest to finish on the top.

Peters also collects a cash prize of US$ 30,000, with Chopra collecting US$ 12,000. Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a best effort of 85.97m in his very first attempt.

Chopra, whose season-best throw of 89.49 metres came in the Lausanne meet last month, finished with throws of 86.82m, 83.49m, 87.86m, 82.04m, 83.30m and 86.46m in his six attempts.

It was Chopra’s second consecutive runner-up finish in the Diamond League final, with Czechia’s Jakub Vadlejch having won last year’s summit clash in Eugene. Chopra’s only victory in a Diamond League final came in the 2022 edition in Zurich, in which his best throw measured 88.44m.

Chopra wasn’t the only Indian competing in men’s javelin throw at the Diamond League this year, with Kishore Jena having competed in the Doha meet on 10 May, where he produced a best effort of 76.31m.

The Diamond League final in Brussels also witnessed Avinash Sable competing in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event, in which he finished ninth with a timing of 8:17:09s. It was the first time a DL final featured more than one Indian across all events.

It has been a season of second-place finishes for Chopra, who had finished runner-up in the Doha and Lausanne DL meets. Chopra also had to contend with a silver medal in the Paris Olympics last month after winning gold in Tokyo three years ago.

While it was Peters who thwarted him twice in the Diamond League, Chopra had been beaten by rival and friend Arshad Nadeem in the Paris final, the Pakistani athlete winning gold with a throw of 92.97m that became a new Olympic record.

Nadeem, however, did not feature in the Diamond League final as he had finished eighth in the men’s javelin standings with just five points from one appearance. Only the top six qualify for the Diamond League final in field events.

Chopra’s season thus comes to an end with just one victory this year — at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland. The armyman from Haryana had been dealing with a groin injury throughout the 2024 season that prevented him from breaching the elusive 90-metre mark, and he is expected to meet a doctor soon to find a solution to the issue.