This might well be the year Julian Weber has been waiting for all his life. The 30-year-old German has been a European Champion but the really big prizes have eluded him — two fourth-place finishes at the World Championships and one at the Olympics. But Weber is now at the peak of his powers with the World Championships just a fortnight away.
Defending World Champion Neeraj Chopra won’t have it easy in Tokyo judging by events on Thursday night, when Weber crossed the hallowed 90 metre mark not once but twice at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. Weber hit his stride right from the first round with an effort of 91.37m, his personal best improving on the 91.06m at the Doha Diamond League in May.
His second throw was even better — 91.51m, the best throw in the world this season.
Doha set the tone for what has turned out to be Weber’s best year. Chopra had entered the 90-metre club with 90.23m in the third round, but Weber stole his thunder by clinching the win in the final round. That day Chopra would have felt robbed of glory, on Thursday, he was outclassed, a rare competition where the 27-year-old Indian looked flat.
To be fair, Weber was head and shoulders above the rest of the field. His last throw was also impressive, 88.66m.
Chopra’s first throw went 84.35m and once he completed his action, he twisted his torso. He was far from pleased with the not-so-great-start. There wasn’t an improvement in the second round – 82 metres in response to Weber’s massive throw. Chopra’s next three throws were fouls. There was only one round left for him to launch a challenge.
Crossing the 90-metre mark only for the second time in his career would have required a phenomenal effort. But did he have it in him to even hit the high 80s in the DL Final, the second-biggest competition on the calendar in a World Championship year.
To add to Chopra’s concerns, he was in third place as 2012 London Olympics gold medallist Keshorn Walcott had moved into second place with 84.95 metres.
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In the last round, Chopra went past the athlete from Trinidad and Tobago with 85.01m to match his finish from last year, when he lost out to Anderson Peters by one centimetre.
“Today was a hard day for me. But I still managed over 85m on my last throw. But the timing was not so good today. Run-up was not so good. There is something I didn’t find today, but I still have three weeks for the World Championships and I will try my best,” Chopra said after the event.
Return to competition
Chopra was making a return to competition after winning the event he hosted, the Neeraj Chopra Classic in early July in Bengaluru. He and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem pulled out of the Silesia Diamond League in mid-August though World Athletics had promoted the potential clash of the Olympic gold and silver medallists in the Polish city. Chopra also chose not to compete at the next leg of the Diamond League in Brussels, where Weber once again showed fine form with a throw of 89.65m for first place.
The German will now travel to Tokyo as the man to beat at the World Championships but Chopra’s delivered on so many big stages that Thursday night in Zurich will be looked at as just a rare off-day. Or perhaps he just didn’t want to go all out.
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Chopra, the first Indian to be crowned Diamond League Champion in 2022, was knocked off his perch in the two consecutive editions. He’ll have to wait another year to try and get his hands on the glittering trophy.
There will be no alarm bells going off in Chopra’s camp. His best effort since the 90-plus throw in Qatar’s capital is a 88.16m at the Paris Diamond League in June.
After the Neeraj Chopra Classic, he had spoken about his technique under coach Jan Zelezny still being a mix of the old and the new.
“I am not able to fully replicate the changes in technique during a competition because it is taking time. I am doing a mix of new and old techniques. I feel if I can replicate the technique that I do in training and in competition, I will get very good results,” Chopra had said.
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On the eve of the Final in Zurich, Chopra said he’s striving to get his technique spot on during competitions. “I really want to throw more and more consistently… 90 metres. It (Doha) was early in the season, but I still tried to find good technique. In training, we are doing really good with my coach Jan Zelezny. I need to focus on the same technique in competition,” he said.
At the World Championships, Chopra will get another opportunity to test his technique in a high-quality competition with the in-form Weber looming as a genuine threat.
