Timing Was Not Good At DL Finale, But I Have Three Weeks For Worlds: Neeraj Chopra

Zurich, Aug 29: Indian javelin throw star Neeraj Chopra acknowledged that his timing was off in the Diamond League Finals in which he finished second but he is hopeful of hitting his strides at the World Championships next month in Tokyo, where he is the defending champion.
The two-time Olympic medallist finished runner-up in the Diamond League Finale for the third time in a row as Julian Weber of Germany lifted his maiden trophy with two 90m-plus throws in a commanding show here on Thursday.
Chopra was lying third till the fifth round following his opening throw of 84.35m before his final effort of 85.01m took him to the second spot, overtaking 2012 London Olympics gold winner Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago who ended third with 84.95m.
“The timing was not so good today (Thursday), run-up was not so good. There is something I didn’t find today, but I still have three weeks for the World Championships, and I will try my best,” Chopra said after the event on Thursday.
The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist had crossed 90m for the first time earlier this year at the Doha Diamond League, but has on numerous occasions said he needs to improve his technique to hit the mark consistently.
“This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the World Championships, so I still need to throw a little bit farther. There were a few things that went well, but still, there were the things which did not go that well,” Chopra said.
“In the last attempt, I still managed to throw 85. But I am very happy for Julian (Weber), he managed to throw really far, and to show 91m was really good. We will see in three weeks.
“I still need to train a little bit. In this sport, we do not know. It depends on the day.” On how his season was shaping up ahead of the World Championships, the Paris Olympics silver-medallist said, “It’s going well and today was a hard day. There is always a harder day in sports, so today was a hard day for me, but I still managed in the last (throw) over 85 metres.” Chopra, who has been dealing with a right groin injury for a long time, added that he is in good shape for the track and field showpiece in Tokyo, and that he was only looking to time his throw perfectly.
“I feel good and I just need to find some good timing,” he added.
On Thursday, Weber took the top spot in the DL Finals, achieving a season’s world-leading throw of 91.57m, his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with 91.37m effort, and after that it was a one-man show in the seven-man field.
None of Weber’s rivals could even come near his mark, as his best effort of the day was over six metres more than that of Chopra. The German had a foul, 83.66m, 86.45m and 88.66m after his second throw.
Clearly, Chopra was not at his best as he had three legal throws out of the six attempts.
Known for his consistency in producing 88m-plus throws, it was a rare instance of the 27-year-old Indian star just being able to touch the 85m mark.
He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third time after 2023 and 2024.
With Thursday’s title, Weber extended his head-to-head record against Chopra to 3-1 this season. The German had earlier beaten Chopra to second place in Doha DL in May and ORLEN Janusz Kusocinski Memorial event in Chorzow, Poland, the same month.
Chopra won in Paris DL in June with Weber finishing second.
However, Chopra leads Weber in overall head-to-head record by a wide margin of 15-5 in competitions involving the duo since 2016.
Chopra has not finished outside second place since June 2021. He had skipped the Silesia and Brussels legs of DL on August 16 and August 22 respectively, but qualified for the Finals here in fourth spot with 15 points. (PTI)