Neeraj Chopra finishes second on a rather cold outing at Janusz Kusocinski Memorial 2025 in Poland

Neeraj Chopra finishes second on a rather cold outing at Janusz Kusocinski Memorial 2025 in Poland

A little over a week after breaching the elusive 90m mark, Neeraj Chopra didn't have the outing he would have desired at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial 2025 on Friday. On a rather cold day for the Indian and in general at Chorzów, Poland, Neeraj still managed a second place finish as Julian Weber grabbed the top honours. The German had done the same in the recently held Doha Diamond League, where Neeraj broke the elusive 90m mark but had to settle for a second place finish.

Neeraj had a rather off start to the event and things appeared to remain the same until the final round. Sports can be unpredictable and so was the case on Friday as Neeraj, who until then had managed 81.80m as his best attempt, hurled the javelin 84.14m to overtake Anderson Peters. The Olympic bronze medalist and former World Champion eventually finished third with 83.24m, which he scaled in the third round. Weber, on the other hand, clinched the top position with a massive 86.12m throw, which came in the second round.

However, both Neeraj and Weber would not be very content with their performance considering they had breached the 90m mark earlier this month in Doha.

The event started with Neeraj managing to hurl the javelin in the 75m range and stepping out of the line on purpose to make the attempt invalid. Meanwhile, his main rivals Weber and Peters started with a 80.77m and 80.72m attempts respectively.

In the second round, Neeraj managed 81.28m and this time he chose not to foul out. However, it was less than Peters, who threw ahead of Neeraj, and scaled 81.48m. Weber, on the other hand, took a massive lead after scaling 86.12m, which helped him remain at the pole position after two rounds.

Neeraj continued to struggle as the event progressed as he once again stepped out in the third round, while Weber managed 83.72m and Peters threw 83.24m. The fourth attempt also saw Neeraj making an invalid attempt, following which he engaged in a brief discussion with coach Jan Zelezny. Both Peter and Weber also struggled in their fourth attempts, which otherwise were valid. Peters threw 81.16m and Weber notched 81.63m.

Meanwhile, the turn of events soon started to feel like a repeat of the Paris Olympics meet, where Neeraj grabbed the silver medal while managing just one valid attempt throughout the contest.

Neeraj did improve on his fifth attempt with a 81.80m throw but it was only enough to keep him at third. Weber, on the other hand, managed to breach the 85m mark again, managing a throw of 85.03m. Peters, on the other hand, threw 79.70m.

However, the sixth and final attempt helped Neeraj climb to second while Peters finished with a disappointing below 80m attempt.