Paris Diamond League: Neeraj Chopra wins with near-perfect performance, claims first title of season

India’s Neeraj Chopra on Friday (June 20) claimed his first title of the season as he won the Paris Diamond League title with a near-perfect performance. Standing in the same arena where he won the Paris Olympic silver medal, Neeraj stood tall to get the better of Julian Weber. Interestingly, Neeraj’s opening throw of 88.16 metre was good enough to win him the Diamond League title in the French capitals.

Neeraj Chopra stands tall

Having lost his Olympic title to Arshad Nadeem in the same arena in August 2024, Neeraj did not disappoint this time. Neeraj’s first throw proved crucial as he amassed 88.16 metres while his nearest opponent Julian Weber had a throw of 87.88 metres. This was the nearest they came to contesting as the next few throws went for foul or were not good enough to break the benchmark.

Neeraj followed his first throw with 85.10 metres while his third and fourth attempts resulted in a foul. However, that made no difference for Neeraj as he claimed his first title of the season. Weber, on the other hand, got all his four throws right but could not beat Neeraj’s tally and had to settle for the second spot.

Luiz Maurício da Silva of Brazil finished third after amassing 86.62 metres in his third attempt. However, his first two throws were not good enough to reach 80 metres. Keshorn Walcott of Trinbagonian finished fourth with a throw of 81.66 metres while Neeraj’s fierce rival competitor Anderson Peters could manage a best throw of 80.29 metres and ended in the fifth spot.

“I’m happy with the throw. It was my first throw and it was a good start but I was hoping for really good throws today,” Neeraj would say in the mixed zone later. “My run-up was really fast today. I can’t control my speed, but I’m happy with the result and with first position.”