Diamond League Final: Neeraj Chopra finishes second, Jakub Vadlejch wins title

World Champion Neeraj Chopra finished second with a best throw of 83.80m in the Diamond League final at Eugene, USA on Saturday and failed to defend his title from last year.

Olympic silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch won the Diamond League 2023 title with the best throw of 84.24m.

Competing in a six-athlete field, Neeraj had a very sub-par start to the final. Neeraj recorded a foul throw in his first attempt while Jakub turned up with 84.01m to lead the field after the first attempt.

Neeraj returned with a solid 83.80 in his second attempt while the other throwers also struggled with the conditions.

In the third attempt, Neeraj threw 81.37m and failed to beat the first throw of Jakub Vadlejch who maintained his lead with just one throw as his second and third throws were foul.

Again in the fourth attempt, Neeraj stepped out to record it as the foul throw. He returned with sub-par throws of 80.74m and 80.90m in the fifth and sixth attempts to finish second.

Meanwhile, Jakub threw 84.24m in his final attempt to win his first major title of the season. Jakub also became the only man to defeat Neeraj Chopra twice in the ongoing season.

The reigning World Champion Neeraj Chopra will be in action on 4th October as he sets out to defend his Asian Games title in Hangzhou, China.