CHENNAI: The pressure was definitely off. The gold at the World Championships in Budapest would have soothed the nerves and it was evident at the pre-event drills when Olympic and world champ Neeraj Chopra was seen sharing a joke or a banter or two with fellow athletes and world champions at Zurich DL.
He was seen chatting with high jump world champion Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and 1500m world champ Josh Kerr of Great Britain during a pre-event briefing. Neeraj spent most of the time travelling to Zurich from Budapest had had a very short period to recover and compete, yet he competed with his usual fervor. Neeraj’s usual competitors are Greneda’s Anderson Peters, who is recovering from injury, Czech Jakub Vadlejch who is heading the DL points table and Julian Weber, who missed the podium. The hangover of the worlds was visible in the results.
Neeraj opened with a modest 80.79m. He powered to come back with a 85.22m and stood behind Vadlejch who had a best of 85.86m in the same fourth round. Neeraj, who doesn’t like to leave it late managed 85.71m in his last throw and finished second. Weber was third.