Athletics: Neeraj Chopra makes long-awaited return to Diamond League with eyes on World C’ships

Having made a late, yet strong start to the 2022 season, men’s javelin throw Olympic champion thrower Neeraj Chopra will look to kick things up a notch in a much-awaited return to the Diamond League events on Thursday.

This is his first appearance in four years in the Diamond League – a series of prestigious one-day meets over the course of the season to determine who competes in the Final. On Thursday, Neeraj will compete in the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League, which will be the last main event of the season before next month’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.

It is the eighth leg of the 2022 Wanda Diamond League season but only the second event to feature men’s javelin. The first was in Doha earlier in the year where Anderson Peters threw a season-leading 93.07m. Neeraj hadn’t yet started his season then.

The 24-year-old returned to action after his Tokyo gold in Turku, Finland on 14 June and was up to a good level right away. He finished second at the Paavo Nurmi Games with a new new personal best and national record throw of 89.30m. In his second event, one that was marred by poor weather, he finished first at Kuortane Games with a creditable 86.60m effort under treacherous conditions.

Neeraj slipped at the end of his third attempt on a wet runway but his first attempt was big enough to see him through as most of the field gave up their final few throws. The AFI later confirmed Neeraj was alright.

The 24-year-old will be competing in the Diamond League for the first time since August 2018 where he registered a fourth-place finish in the Final in Zurich. His effort of 85.73m was just 3 cm short of the third place. He has taken part in seven Diamond League meets – three in 2017 and four in 2018 – and is yet to finish at the top of the standings. He had two fourth-place finishes, the other one coming in Doha in May 2018, where he had thrown 87.43m which was a national record back then.

Bauhaus-Galan, as the meet is called, will feature a strong javelin field and will be a stern test for the athletes to see where they stand before the Worlds.

Diamond League format:

Athletes are awarded 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 points for ranking 1st to 8th respectively in their discipline. The top 6 in the field events at the end of the season will qualify for the Final (scheduled in Zurich for the first week of September). In case of a tie, the best legal performance of the qualification phase wins. 

The Final 3 format – where the top three is determined by one single attempt at the end – which is trialled throughout the season in horizontal and technical disciplines, will not be used in the Wanda Diamond League Final. The winner of each Diamond Discipline at the Final be awarded the Diamond League champion trophy and USD 30,000 prize money

Germany’s Johannes Vetter is however still not back in contention.

After finishing first at Kuortane where he was earlier based, Neeraj has shifted to Uppsala, less than 100km from Stockholm, and will be not be taking part in any event after the Diamond League till the July 15-24 World Championships, reported PTI.

Neeraj has looked impressive against a similar field in both his events so far, but if the likes of Peters and Vadlejch step up their recent form, Neeraj will have to get close to his best to be in the top three of this meet.

Speaking ahead of the meet, Neeraj once again spoke about starting his season later than most and what his plans for 2022 are:

Here’s a look at the start list for Stockholm and the qualification standings for Zurich Final based on the Doha event:

Diamond League 2022 - Stockholm – BAUHAUS-galan – on June 30th, Thursday, 11:30 pm IST onwards will be available on Sports18 1 SD & HD in India as well as Voot Select streaming platform.

Neeraj Chopra’s men’s javelin event is scheduled to begin at 10.52 pm IST.