Diamond League 2024 Highlights: Neeraj Chopra misses victory two centimeters | Sport-others News

Diamond League Athletics 2024, Neeraj Chopra Highlights: Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra missed the Doha Diamond League men’s javelin throw title just two centimetres. The Tokyo Olympics champion’s best throw of the night was a 88.36 metres attempt which he threw with his last heave of the night. Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympics silver winner Jakub Vadlejch won the event with a best attempt of 88.38 metres on the night.
Neeraj’s compatriot, Kishore Jena ended ninth in the 10-man standings with a best attempt of 76.31m on the night. He was eliminated after three throws.
Neeraj started the night with a no mark, but then made up for the missed chance with an 84.93m heave with his second attempt. He then bettered his dance with a 86.24m attempt with his third throw. With his 4th attempt, he again touched the 86m mark, throwing 86.18m. His fifth attempt was 82.28m. Then, with one throw remaining to make some magic happened, he came agonisingly close: falling two centimetres short of Vadlejch’s winning throw.
The Doha Diamond League is Neeraj’s first event of the 2024 season. It’s a year in which Neeraj is looking to retain his Olympic title at Paris 2024. The 90m mark is also on his mind.
“People have been asking me this question (about crossing the 90m mark) since 2018 when I threw 88.06m at the Asian Games,” Neeraj said at the pre-event press conference on Thursday. “A lot of things happened after that, my elbow injury, the surgery and now I have been stuck between 88m and 90m.
“I really want to break the barrier this year. Even last year, I had said that Doha is famous for 90m. But, we were not lucky due to too much headwind. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have a good day. Obviously, it is the Olympics year and India is a big country and everyone expects gold always. My focus is to just stay healthy and concentrate on my technique. And yes, if I stay healthy everything will be good.”
Scroll down to follow action from the Doha Diamond League, where Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena are competing, on our liveblog below
In Doha, the world will get a look at where Neeraj stands at the start of an Olympic year but he too will know what some of his main competitors have been up to. (Reuters)
Diamond League 2024 Full Schedule
Here is the full schedule of the Diamond League where men’s javelin throw event will be held in 2024:
Doha: May 10
Paris: July 7
Lausanne: August 22
Zurich: September 5
Brussels Diamond League Final: September 13-14