Neeraj Chopra Reveals How Julius Yego Calmed Indian Javelin Ace At Lausanne Diamond League

New Delhi: Neeraj Chopra was nowhere near the top two at the Lausanne Diamond League a couple of days ago before a five-lettered sentence from an opponent helped the Indian to come out good in his final throw to finish second. Coming from a silver medal at the Paris Olympics 2024, Neeraj was touted as the favourite to finish on the top. With Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem giving the event a miss, it was a perfect opportunity for the Tokyo Olympics javelin winner to stamp his authority.

However, nothing seemed to work for Neeraj as his first four throws didn’t even breach the 85m mark. With a fear of missing out of the top three, Neeraj threw his spear at 85.58m to get one last shot at the top position. Notably, after the fifth throw, only the top three get the sixth and final attempt in Diamond Leagues. That’s when Kenyan Julius Yego came to calm down Neeraj.

“(Anderson) Peters threw 90m, my body didn’t feel good but the fighting spirit was nice today. I really liked my comeback. In the last throw I didn’t think too much, just gave my best,” Chopra told the broadcaster. “In the first throw, I thought I will do this, I will do that but in the last throw, I did not, also Julius Yego said ‘relax, you will throw far’. I tried to relax,” he added.

Yego’s words did magic for Neeraj as the Indian threw his spear to a distance of 89.48m to produce his season’s second-best throw. 15 days ago, Neeraj claimed an Olympic silver with a throw of 89.45m in Paris. However, Yego finished sixth with a best effort of 83m.

The ongoing Diamond League season will end on September 14 in the final on Brussels. Neeraj needs to finish in top six in the standings to qualify for the final. Neeraj is currently placed third in the standings with 14 points from two events. Earlier, Neeraj won Olympics silver in Paris carrying a long-standing groin injury. “First goal, go to the doctor and make my groin 100 per cent fit and also I will be technically better and try to throw far again,” he had said.