Neeraj Chopra finishes 1st at 2023 Lausanne Diamond League with 87.66m throw

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra announced his return from injury with his second consecutive Diamond League win this season, beating a world-class field with an effort of 87.66m in Lausanne on Friday. Coming off a muscle strain that forced him to skip FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands on June 4 and Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 13, Chopra fouled on his first attempt as Germany's Julian Weber jumped to an early lead with an 86.20m throw.

Chopra responded with a throw of 83.52m to take the third spot and moved past Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch to second place with an 85.04m effort in his third dig. However, it was in his fifth and penultimate attempt that the Indian - who is known to produce big early throws - found enough reserves to hurl the spear to 87.66m and gallop to pole position.

Though Weber and Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch delivered their best throws of the night in their final attempts - Weber recorded 87.03m while Vadlejch did 86.13m - Chopra's best proved impossible to beat. In the end, his tally read an impressive x, 83.52, 85.04, x, 87.66, 84.15.

The win is Chopra's second in Diamond League this season following his season-opening triumph at Doha Diamond League on May 5 and comes in a stacked nine-man field comprising of the reigning world champion (Anderson Peters), season's best thrower (Vadlejch, 89.51m), and meet record holder (Keshorn Walcott, 90.16m). Six of the nine competitors had recorded at least one 85m throw already before taking the field in Lausanne, three of them - including Chopra - going beyond 88m. On the night that mattered, 87.66m proved enough.

Meanwhile, the other Indian in the competition, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth with the best leap of 7.88m. Bahamas' LaQuan Nairn took the top position with 8.11m while Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou was next with 8.07m. Japan's Yuki Hashioka completed the top three (7.98m)

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