A World Championships gold was the crowning glory of this season but superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has a title to defend as he takes the field against familiar rivals at the prestigious Diamond League finals on Saturday (Pic: AFP)
Updated On: 2023-09-15 10:31 PM IST
Compiled by : Srijanee Majumdar
The 25-year-old Chopra lifted the Diamond League champion's trophy in Zurich last year and he would be looking to do the same again after dominating the season which saw him win his maiden World Championships title in Budapest in August.
If Chopra holds the trophy and pockets the USD 30,000 prize money at the Prefontaine Classic, he will become only the third man to defend the DL overall title, though the format changed in 2017.
Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, won two individual DL meetings in Doha on May 5 and Lausanne on June 30 before clinching a historic gold in the World Championships.
In between Doha and Lausanne, he suffered a groin strain while training and that kept him out of competition for nearly one month. Chopra had become only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships crowns after winning the worlds title in Budapest with a throw of 88.17m.
Defending Diamond League champion, world champion and Olympic champion Chopra has a season's best of 88.77m in the qualifying round in Budapest, the second best distance on the world list this year.
(With agency inputs)
