Olympic championr Neeraj Chopra is poised to win his first Diamond League medal in four years at a major one-day competition here on Thursday, encouraged by a solid opening game. Chopra, 24, finished second in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku with a national record throw of 89.30m prior to actually dominating his category in the Kuortane Games with a creditable 86.60m performance in difficult circumstances.
Neeraj Chopra is poised to capture a medal at the Stockholm Diamond League
Two competitions in Finland had excellent fields, albeit the Turku line-up featured more stars than the Kuortane line-up, where Chopra slid after a poor launch of his spear in his third try in wet circumstances. Fortunately, he was quickly back recovered and won the tournament without harm.
Chopra will compete in his debut Diamond League event after finishing fourth in Zurich in August 2018 with a throw of 85.73m. He has competed in seven Diamond League meetings, three in 2017 and four this year, and had yet to earn a medal. He finished fourth twice, the other time in Doha in May 2018, when he threw 87.43m.
The famous one-day meet in Stockholm will be Chopra’s largest tournament before the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month. He will also be competing against the hardest competition of the season, including all 3 Tokyo Olympics medalists in the mix.
Johannes Vetter of Germany has the most 90-plus throws across active throwers, remains on the sidelines. He is not completely fit and won’t compete in the German nationals.
Chopra has relocated to Uppsala, just under 100 kilometres from Stockholm, following winning gold in Kuortane, where he was previously stationed, and would not compete in any competition after the Diamond League and until the July 15-24 World Championships. This month, the Indian sensation has defeated Grenada’s defending world champion Anderson Peters twice. Following winning the Doha Diamond League event with a season-best throw of 93.07m, Peters’ form has dipped.