Watch: Neeraj Chopra's 88.44m throw to win Diamond Trophy in Zurich

Zurich: Neeraj Chopra continued his historic run since Tokyo Olympics as the 24-year-old threw a strong 88.44m to become the first Indian to become Diamond League champion. He achieved the feat at the league’s final in Zurich on Thursday night. Chopra rejoiced with his familiar no-look celebrations.

88.44m to move into the lead. The trademark No-look celebration at the end! pic.twitter.com/Ut9we5qkwI

— Prithvi (@Eighty7_Fifty8) September 8, 2022

Chopra’s throw sequence on the evening read, X, 88.44m, 88, 86.11, 87m. On his way to the title, Chopra defeated Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (86.94m) and Julian Weber (83.73m) in the six-man final.

Chopra started slowly as his first throw was red-flagged while Vadlejch took the lead with an 84.15m throw. However, the Indian reverted in style as he produced his biggest throw of the night to take the lead and never lost it again. The 88-plus attempt came right after his Czech rival momentarily increased his lead to 86m.

However, there was no stopping Chopra, in the absence of world champion Anderson Peters, as the Indian threw 88m of this third throw.

Vadlejch, on the other hand, remained consistent with his throws as he improved to an 86.94m after a foul attempt before he watched Chopra throw 86.11m.

Chopra maintained his strong form on the night with an 87 and 83.60m throw in his final two attempts while his rivals were already exhausted to find the biggest throw of the night.

The remaining three contenders saw USA’s Curtis Thompson take the fourth spot with an 82.10m throw while Patriks Gailums (80.44m) and Portugal’s Leandro Ramos (71.96) took the final two spots.

Chopra had booked his spot in Zurich in style by winning the Lausanne Diamond League with an 89.08-meter throw late last month. The victory marked the 24-year-old athlete’s return after a month-long injury lay-off that also forced him to miss Commonwealth Games.

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