Neeraj Chopra wins Lausanne Diamond League 2023

Fellow compatriot Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth in men's long jump.

Reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the Lausanne Diamond League 2023 with a best throw of 87.66m. This was 25-year-old's first athletics competition since the Doha Diamond League last month. Chopra, post his win at Doha, suffered from a minor injury which kept him away from three meets — FBK games, Paavo Nurmi Games, and Ostrava Golden Spike. Compatriot and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth with a best effort of 7.88m in the men's Long Jump event.

Neeraj Chopra's series - X, 83.52m, 85.04m, X, 87.66m, 84.15m

Neeraj Chopra wins in Lausanne Diamond League

Chopra started the series with a foul which is pretty unusual from him. His best throws have always come in either of his first two attempts (majority of the time). But this time, the reigning Olympic champion had different plans. He kept his calm and achieved his best effort in his fourth attempt (87.66m) to win the Lausanne Diamond League.

https://twitter.com/KhelNow/status/1674878567401017344

Julian Weber (87.03m) and World Lead Jakub Vadlejch (86.13m) came close to Neeraj's mark in the sixth and last attempt, but it was not enough to breach Chopra's mark. With this win, Neeraj Chopra has 16 ranking points to his kitty and is currently ranked on top for the race to Diamond League finals.

Murali Sreeshankar finishes fifth in men's long jump

Earlier in the day, former National record holder Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth with a best jump of 7.88m. The Tokyo Olympian couldn't adjust to the conditions with strong headwind throughout the series.

Sreeshankar's series - 7.75m (-0.5m/s), 7.63m (-0.6m/s), 7.88m (-0.7m/s), 7.59m (-0.5m/s), 7.66m (-1.2m/s)

The 24-year-old from Kerala has breached the 8m mark five times in the seven competitions he has taken part so far and this is the second meet this season, where he has failed to cross 8m. He will gather four ranking points in Lausanne and has already garnered six points in Paris accounting to a total of 10 rankings points at the Diamond League this season.

https://twitter.com/KhelNow/status/1674874253173481472

Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Nairn Laquan, who pipped Sreeshankar by 0.1m to win gold, won his first Diamond League event by securing a best jump of 8.11m. Reigning Olympic champion from Greece Mitliadis Tentouglou (8.07m) and Japan's Yuki Hashioka (7.98m) claimed the second and third spots respectively. Italy's Mattia Furlani had earlier jumped 8.44m (+2.2m/s) this season and is one to watch out for in the future.