Struggling to find his form and momentum, two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra ended up as runner-up in the Diamond League Finals for the third consecutive time with an under-par throw of 85.01m in his final attempt here on Thursday. Julian Weber of Germany lifted his maiden trophy with two 90m-plus throws in a dominating performance.

Chopra, who was third till the fifth and penultimate round, threw the spear to a distance of 84.35m in the opening round. His final throw of 85.01m saw him overtake 2012 London Olympics gold winner Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who came third with 84.95m.

Weber achieved the season’s best throw of 91.57m, also his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with 91.37m effort, and thereafter it was a one-man show in the seven-man field. None of Weber’s rivals could even come near his mark as his best effort of the day was over 6m more than Chopra’s.

Clearly, Chopra was not at his best in the season’s Diamond League grand finale. He had three legal throws out of the six attempts. Since Chopra is known for his consistency in producing 88m-plus throws, it was unusual to see him just being able to touch the 85m mark. He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third time after 2023 and 2024. Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada was fourth with 82.06m.

Chopra was not his usual self as he began with 84.35m, and then followed it up with 82m and a foul. He was at third spot at the halfway stage, and he fouled his fourth and fifth attempts before coming up with a 85.01m effort in his last throw. “This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the world championships, so I still need to throw a little bit further. There were a few things that went well, but still, there were things which did not go that well. In the last attempt, I still managed to throw 85. But I am very happy for Julian today. He managed to throw really far, and to throw 91m was really good. We will see in three weeks,” Chopra said after the event.

He said he still needs to train more. “In this sport, we do not know. It depends on the day. Everything will be different in Tokyo during the World Championships. “Julian is a good friend of mine and I am always happy when he is doing well and we push each other. There will be some friends from India coming to cheer for me in Tokyo,” said Chopra.

Weber’s effort was also his third 90m-plus throw of the season as well as his career. He had breached the coveted 90m mark with a 91.06m throw while winning the Doha Diamond League title on May 16. Chopra also breached the 90m mark for the first time in Doha with a throw of 90.23m, but finished second behind Weber. Chopra will now head to Tokyo for next month’s World Championships as the defending champion.

Weber is now 3-1 up against Chopra in head-to-head this season. However, Chopra leads Weber in the overall head-to-head record by a wide margin of 15-5 in competitions involving the duo since 2016. Chopra has not finished outside second place since June 2021.