If an idiom could define Neeraj Chopra, it would surely be ‘hit the ground running’.
After a month-long injury break that saw the Olympic champion missing three events, Chopra returned to the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League to finish at the top. This is Chopra’s second Diamond League victory this year, having won the Doha event in May. The 25-year-old now leads the qualifications for the final to be held in Eugene, US, in September. [The Diamond League is a series of track and field events culminating in a grand finale for which the top eight athletes qualify.]
Chopra was the first Indian to win the coveted Diamond League title in 2022, a year in which he also won a silver at the World Championships. His list of achievements, which include an Olympic gold in 2021, is nothing short of a fairy-tale considering that he took to athletics at 12, at the prodding of his uncle who wanted him to shed some weight.