Neeraj Chopra seals Diamond League Finals berth despite limited appearances

Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Diamond League Finals in Brussels after securing 12 points from two second-place finishes in Doha and Lausanne. He is also in contention for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest next month

New Delhi: Indian javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Diamond League Finals to be held in Brussels on September 5 despite competing in just two events of the prestigious one-day meeting series.

Chopra secured 12 points after finishing second in both the Doha and Lausanne DL events on June 19 and August 21 respectively to take the sixth spot in the standings and be eligible to compete in the winner-takes-all grand finale in Brussels.

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The standings were updated at the end of the 14th and the last leg of the series in Zurich on Thursday.

Of the 14 Diamond League meetings of the year, five featured men’s javelin throw and Chopra competed in just two.

The 28-year-old is on a comeback trail after recovering from a lower back injury that has troubled him since September last year. The injury delayed his return until the Doha Diamond League.

He was not 100 per cent fit at the recent Glasgow Commonwealth Games but was able to win a silver with a season’s best throw of 85.83m.

He later improved that to 88.05m in the Lausanne Diamond League.

For jumps and throws, the top six in the standings will compete in the September 4-5 DL Finals in Brussels. One additional athlete per discipline may also compete via a national or global wildcard selection.

The DL Finals will be held over two days in Brussels with 16 events to be organised on September 4 and the rest 16 the next day. The men’s javelin event will be held on September 5.

The winner will get a trophy and pocket a minimum of USD 30,000. The eighth-place finisher will get USD 1000.

If men’s javelin is chosen as one of the Diamond+ disciplines, then the winner will pocket USD 60,000.

Rising Sri Lankan star Rumesh Pathirage is at the top spot of the standings with 39 points, making him the favourite to walk away with the DL trophy in Brussels also.

He competed in all the five DL javelin events, won in four and finished second in one, underlining his absolute dominance this season.

On Thursday, Pathirage destroyed the 10-man field in Zurich with a stunning 92.07m throw to take the title. This was his second 90m plus throw of the season, following the 92.62m effort in Rome.

Germany’s Julian Weber was the only other athlete to record a 90m plus throw this season so far with his 90.40m effort while winning gold at the European Championships in Birmingham earlier this month. But dogged by injury, he did not compete in any DL event and he will not be there in the Finals also.

Two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada is second in the standings with 35 points. He finished second in Zurich on Thursday behind Pathirage with 86.93m. Both Pathirage and Peters had already qualified for the DL Finals even before the Zurich meet.

Reigning world champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago will also compete in the DL Finals as he ended at third place in the standings with 23 points, followed by Curtis Thompson (20 points) of USA and Julius Yego (13) of Kenya at fourth and fifth spots.

Chopra on course for World Athletics Ultimate Championships:

Chopra is also on course to qualify for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest from September 11-13.

Eight throwers will compete in the men’s javelin event and Chopra is currently at the seventh spot. Another Indian, Sachin Yadav is at the eighth spot but the final list of eligible athletes will be published on September 6.

Pathirage, Peters, Thompson and Weber are ahead of Chopra in the Road to Ultimate Championships.

Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago have qualified as reigning Olympic and world champion respectively.

The winner of the Diamond League Finals in Brussels on September 5 will also be invited in the Ultimate Championships.

The other five will be picked on the basis of world rankings with the qualification period from September 2, 2025 to September 1, 2026.

The inaugural Ultimate Championship will pit Olympic champions, world champions and Diamond League winners against one another in an ambitious project of World Athletics.

It will be a biennial event to provide a season-ending championship in years when there is no outdoor World Championships.

The total prize purse this year will be USD 10 million, with gold medallists winning USD 150,000.