Neeraj Chopra Finishes Second At 2025 Diamond League Finals, Ready For World Championships

Neeraj Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist in javelin, secured the runner-up position at the Diamond League Finals for the third consecutive year. Julian Weber from Germany clinched his first trophy with two throws exceeding 90 metres in Zurich on August 28, 2025. Chopra's final throw of 85.01 metres moved him to second place, surpassing Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who finished third with 84.95 metres.

Weber's performance was outstanding, achieving a season-leading throw of 91.57 metres on his second attempt. He started with a 91.37-metre throw and dominated the seven-man field thereafter. None of his competitors came close to his mark, with Chopra's best effort falling over six metres short of Weber's top throw.

Chopra's Consistency and Challenges

Chopra, known for consistently throwing beyond 88 metres, had an unusual day as he only managed to reach the 85-metre mark once during this event. His aim was to reclaim the trophy he won in 2022 but ended up finishing second for the third time after doing so in both 2023 and 2024.

The defending champion Anderson Peters from Grenada placed fourth with a throw of 82.06 metres. Chopra began with an 84.35-metre throw, followed by an 82-metre attempt and a foul. He was third midway through the competition but fouled his fourth and fifth attempts before achieving an 85.01-metre throw in his last attempt.

Chopra Reflects on Performance

"This was not too bad," said Chopra after the event. "But we are getting very close to the world championships, so I still need to throw a little bit further." He acknowledged that while some aspects went well, others did not meet expectations.

Chopra expressed happiness for Weber's performance: "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 show 91m was really good." Looking ahead to Tokyo's World Championships from September 13-21, Chopra noted that everything "will be different" there.

Upcoming Challenges in Tokyo

Chopra is set to defend his title at next month's World Championships in Tokyo. He mentioned having friends from India coming to support him there and emphasised that winning gold is more important than long throws at major championships.

Weber's achievement marked his third career throw over 90 metres this season. He had previously surpassed this mark with a 91.06-metre throw while winning the Doha DL title on May 16.

Head-to-Head Record

With Thursday's victory, Weber extended his head-to-head record against Chopra this season to 3-1. The German had earlier defeated Chopra in Doha DL in May and at the ORLEN Janusz Kusocinski Memorial event in Chorzow, Poland, that same month.

However, overall since 2016, Chopra leads Weber by a significant margin of 15-5 in competitions involving both athletes. Notably, Chopra has not finished outside second place since June 2021.

Diamond League Journey

This season featured four Diamond League meetings with men's javelin events; Chopra participated in two — Doha in May where he finished second and Paris in June where he won the title. He skipped Silesia and Brussels legs but qualified for Zurich Finals by securing fourth spot with fifteen points from these events.

The last event before Zurich was NC Classic held on July fifth at Bengaluru which Chopra hosted himself; he emerged victorious there with an impressive throw measuring eighty-six point eighteen meters.