Diamond League: Neeraj Chopra finds the winning length to lead javelin standings; Long jumper M. Sreeshankar struggles on the runway

Diamond League: ‘Nervous’ Neeraj Chopra finds the winning length to lead javelin standings; Long jumper M. Sreeshankar struggles on the runway, finishing fifth. While Chopra was in fine touch and had a series that included an 85.04m throw, long jumper M. Sreeshankar was finding it tough on the runway

It was a cloudy and chilly Friday night in Lausanne as Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra returned to competition after a month-long injury break. The World No. 1 javelin thrower was the defending champion at the Lausanne Diamond League and as he lined up, a lot of things were running on his mind.

“I was feeling a bit nervous coming back from an injury. It was a bit cold,” said Chopra after winning the title, his second Diamond League victory this year, with a fifth-round effort of 87.66m.

“I am still far from my best but I feel it is getting better. I’m relieved it’s coming together well for me. I wanted to win but I also want to go back to training and fix some of the things that I noticed and that are going to make me stronger,” explained the 25-year-old who beat German Julian Weber (87.03m) — the leader till Chopra’s fifth-round effort — and Czech Republic’s Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (86.13).

“The next competition, Budapest (World Championship, August), will be a big one for me.”

Chopra now leads the Diamond League javelin standings with 16 points with Vadlejch (13) behind him.

While Chopra was in fine touch and had a series that included an 85.04m throw, long jumper M. Sreeshankar was struggling on the runway.

Sreeshankar, No. 2 in this year’s world long jump list with his 8.41m which came at the recent Bhubaneswar inter-state Nationals, finished fifth with a third-round leap of 7.88m.