Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra finished second at the Lausanne Diamond League with a season-best throw of 88.05m. He missed the top spot by just 9cm to Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage but said he is ‘building momentum’ to get back to his best.
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra said he is “building momentum to get back to his “best” after finishing second at the Lausanne Diamond League with a season-best throw of 88.05 metres. Taking to social media platform X, Neeraj wrote, “88.05. Building momentum to get back to my best again.” 88.05 Building momentum to get back to my best again. 💪 pic.twitter.com/9mUFQDiyAe — Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 22, 2026
Chopra finished second at the Lausanne Diamond League with a season-best throw of 88.05m, missing out on the top spot by just nine centimetres. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage continued his impressive 2026 campaign, winning the event with an 88.14m effort.
Return to Form After Difficult Season Start
The result extended Chopra’s wait for a victory, with his last win coming at the Neeraj Chopra Classic in Bengaluru in July 2025. However, his return to the 88m range will be a major positive, particularly after a difficult start to the season. Before Lausanne, Chopra had competed in just two events in 2026 — finishing fourth at the Doha Diamond League and second at the Commonwealth Games — without crossing the 86m mark in either competition.
Lausanne Competition Highlights
He opened in Lausanne with an 83.54m throw, while Pathirage immediately established himself as the early leader with 85.99m before improving to 87.06m on his second attempt.
Chopra responded strongly with his second throw, producing 88.05m to improve his previous season’s best by 2.23m and move into contention for the title. Pathirage, however, reclaimed the lead with his third attempt, sending the javelin 88.14m to secure another victory. Neither athlete was able to better those marks in the remaining rounds, leaving Chopra to settle for second place.
Final Standings
Overall standings stand with Pathirage topping with a throw of 88.14m, followed by Neeraj at 88.05m. Anderson Peters finished third with 86.69m, while Keshorn Walcott recorded 83.71m for fourth place. Marc Anthony Minichello (80.06m), Curtis Thompson (78.13m), Jakub Vadlejch (77.32m), Artur Felfner (74.84m) and Simon Wieland (73.23m) completed the top nine. (ANI)
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