This was going to be it. A most remarkable streak was going to come to an end. Before Thursday evening - and the 2024 Lausanne Diamond League - Neeraj Chopra had competed in 19 events* since the Tokyo Olympics and finished first in 12 of them. The other seven times he'd finished second.
This included the Paris Olympics, a fortnight ago, when with his only legal throw of the final, he'd taken silver. In fact, the last time he'd finished outside the top 3 of any event was nearly six years ago (September 2018). On a clear, still Swiss evening night, though, that unprecedent -- and rather ludicrous -- run of results was ending.
His first four throws of the meet read 82.10m, 83.21m, 83.13m, 82.34m. The last time we'd seen him throw such low numbers was back at the Federation Cup earlier this summer where it had been evident that he'd been operating at ~60% capacity. That may have been enough at the Kalinga, but this was a different ball game. With Anderson Peters hovering at 86m-88m consistently, Julian Weber hitting 87m, and young Artur Felfner (of Ukraine, 2022 U20 World Champion) maxing out at 83.38m, Neeraj needed to step it up to remain in the competition.
For as it stood, Neeraj wasn't even going to get a sixth throw in, because the Diamond League field events are designed in a unique manner where only the top three can go for the sixth and final attempt. But on his fifth throw, Neeraj raised his mark to 85.58m, and went third.
A solid throw under pressure. A decent, respectable distance. Top-3 assured. Questions would remain as to why had chosen to participate here (exactly a fortnight after the Olympic final) after he'd admitted fears of aggravating an injury that had held him back on that tense Paris night. They'd wonder why he hadn't just returned to India like all the Olympians and gone on the felicitation merry-go-round like he himself had three years ago... but at least he could have that top-3 finish to show for it.
When Anderson Peters rolled up for throw #6 and flung his javelin 90.61m, the matter appeared closed. Witnessing it in real-time, you'd have been forgiven for thinking 'yeah, we're not getting that first place. Let's just pack up and go, honour intact. Third is good enough'
Except that's not how Neeraj is built.
He had been a bundle of rage all evening long, chastising himself for the poor run-ups, for the low marks, for struggling to find any semblance of rhythm, but he distilled all that fury into one final attempt. This time it was perfect -- from the jog that builds into a sprint, latent velocity transferring from human to spear as he lets it fly -- and his javelin soared and soared, till it fell just short of Peters' mark. 89.49m. The second furthest Neeraj Chopra had ever thrown a javelin. From nowhere, he'd almost taken the win right off Peters' nose.
Almost.
As he turned after that final throw in that trademark way of his, arms raised, index fingers raised, he saw the javelin fall agonisingly short of the 90m mark and immediately let out a cry, head held in his hands.
A season's best throw for Neeraj Chopra, but it's another second place finish at the #LausanneDL for India's finish, who managed the second best throw of his life �� pic.twitter.com/5cQTuNj0bv
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) August 22, 2024
Now, it had been a remarkable comeback: an elite athlete who had looked completely out of sorts for 67% of the competition had found an extra gear to stay in it and then found several more to almost win it in the last third of it. Neeraj's consistency has dulled the Indian fan to the awesomeness of his performances but from whichever angle you looked at it, this was a truly great sporting feat. And yet Neeraj's face at the end of it all was one of exasperation. All he could think of was the 'almost.'
It's an incredibly curious statistic for this serial winner that the three best throws of his life have come in tournaments where he finished second. So close, yet so far, with that 90m milestone laughing at him all the while. His exasperation was soon followed by a wistful smile, a big hug for Peters (whose own professional comeback is quite the marvel), and a rather muted round of applause for the support from the stands. But for the great athlete, it's that feeling he'll take back from this event.
That 90m question hovers over him larger than ever now. It's never bothered him before, and the mere distance still won't. But you can see that something is really starting to gnaw at him: that this arbitrary milestone is remaining out his reach, that it's not bending to his will as everything else does, that this is what is standing between him and his one aim... winning every single time he competes.
Because he is who is, though, all that means is that he'll go back to the drawing board --fine-tuning, perfecting, practicing, almost pulling off near-impossible looking heists along the way -- as he looks to reel in this mighty challenge. So come the Brussels Diamond League final next month, expect nothing different: this is just what Neeraj Chopra does.
*includes 2 World Championships qualifications and 1 Olympic qualification.