Reigning Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra will be aiming to script history at the Zurich Diamond League Grand Final on Thursday. The 24-year-old athlete will be eyeing his maiden Diamond League Finals title. He had qualified for the Finals in 2017 and 2018, finishing seventh and fourth respectively. Chopra had finished first at the Lausanne Diamond League meet in August becoming the first Indian in history to win a leg of the Diamond League after coming from an injury layoff. He had missed the Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to a groin injury he had suffered during his silver-winning performance in the World Championships in USA in July.
The win in Lausanne along with a second-place finish at the Stockholm’s leg, steered the Indian javelin thrower to the Grand Final in Zurich. He is the only Indian athlete to qualify for this year’s grand finale.Chopra, who clinched the silver medal at the world athletics championships in Oregon earlier this year, will start as a favorite at the Grand Final in Zurich.Among the athletes in the final, Chopra has the second-best throw of the season at 89.94m, a per- sonal best and national record set at the Stockholm Diamond League back in June.Chopra’s biggest challenge in Zurich will be the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, Tokyo Silver medallist and 2016 Diamond League champion, who has the best throw of 90.88m this season. Julian Weber of Germany, who is reigning European champion, will also give stiff competition to the Olympic champion.
