Neeraj Chopra, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, has qualified for the Diamond League 2025 Final to be held in Zurich, Switzerland, on August 27–28.
Chopra took the third spot in the list of javelin throw athletes to qualify for the finale. He accumulated 15 points, the same as German Julian Weber. Keshorn Walcott leads the rankings with 17 points.
The Diamond League Final is the culmination of 15 DL events held across the world. Only the top six athletes qualify for the Diamond League Final.
The silver medalist at the Paris Olympics 2024, has not yet confirmed his participation in the Diamond League Final 2025. He is unlikely to feature at the Brussels leg of the Diamond League in August. He is currently focused on defending his Worlds gold in Tokyo, scheduled for September 12–13,
Neeraj Chopra, who won the Diamond League finale in 2022, has been a consistent performer at the prestigious event, organised by World Athletics.
In 2023, Neeraj finished runner-up behind Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who took the title with an 84.24m attempt in Eugene. Neeraj secured a second-place finish with a best effort of 83.80m.
Last year, Neeraj again had to settle for second place behind Anderson Peters of Grenada. The Indian thrower’s 87.86m attempt was the second-best in Brussels. Peters won the title with a throw just one centi-metre longer, landing an 87.87m effort.
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Arshad Nadeem misses the bus
While Neeraj made the cut, his Pakistani rival Nadeem failed to qualify for the Diamond League Final.
The reigning Olympic champion from Pakistan missed out on the qualification as he did not compete in any of the Diamond League events this year.
Nadeem skipped the Diamond League meetings this year as part of a planned training strategy. Earlier this year, he won the Asian Athletics Championships gold and is currently preparing for the World Championships.
Race for remaining 3 spots
Others in contention for the top six sports are Granada’s Anderson Peters (13 points), followed by Yego (11 points), Mardare (8 points), Brazil’s Luiz Mauricio Da Silva (6 points) and Poland’s Dawid Wegner (5 points). The Zurich meet will confirm the other three spots remaining to be filled.
