It's not even been 14 days since his Silver medal win at the Paris Olympics and Neeraj Chopra will be in action once again in men's javelin throw, this time in Lausanne as part of the Diamond League. Neeraj, who missed the Paris meet before the Olympics to get his adductor in fine condition, will be contesting to stay in the top six to make it to the final in Brussels next month. Neeraj is currently in fourth position and would be eager to strengthen his place going into the final.
Currently, Crezhia's Jakub Vadlejch is at the top of the standings with 14 points. Vadlejch finished first at the Doha meet in May and third in Paris and will be Neeraj's toughest competitor in Lausanne given Arshad Nadeem is not taking part on Thursday, August 22 evening in Switzerland.
So how does Diamond League points system work?
There are four different meets in the Diamond League for men's javelin throw - Doha, Paris, Lausanne and Zurich. After four events, the top six will contest for the sole winner's position in the final since there are no medals in the Diamond League.
Now, the athlete finishing at the top in one meet gets eight points, the one finishing second gets seven, the third six, the fourth five and so on. Vadlejch finished first in Doha (hence 8) and third in Paris (hence 6). Anderson Peters, who won the bronze medal at Paris Olympics, finished third in Doha (hence 6) and second in Paris (hence 7) and is in second position on the points table.
How many points does Neeraj need?
Since Neeraj finished second in Doha, he has seven points in his kitty as he didn't participate in the Paris meet. Neeraj is currently in fourth position after Vadlejch (14), Peters (13) and Julian Weber (8), who won the Paris leg. A top-two finish in Lausanne might be enough for Neeraj to qualify for the final but he can't be sure.
Vadlejch, Peters, Weber, Adrian Mardare, Lassi Etelatalo of Finland, Kenya's Julius Yego, Lithuania's Edis Matusevicius and Ukraine's Artur Felfner will be in action, who are among top eight in the standings. Oliver Helander is not on the entry list for Lausanne like Nadeem.
Chopra after his Silver win at the Olympics mentioned that he is still struggling with his adductor and would want to get it right but how he performs in Lausanne might have a telling effect on the time window for the same given the Zurich meet takes place on September 5 and the finals are scheduled for September 13-14.
