Neeraj Chopra is presently in first place in the standings after winning the Doha Diamond League match with eight points, followed by Vadlejch with seven points and Peters with six points.
Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will compete in the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League on Friday in a stacked field as he returns to action following a one-month injury layoff. With a fourth career-best throw of 88.67 metres on May 5, the 25-year-old Indian superstar enjoyed a perfect start to the Diamond League season. However, later that month, while practising, the athlete experienced a muscular strain. He announced his injury in a statement on May 29 and, as a precaution, withdrew from the FBK Games in Hengelo (Netherlands) on June 4 and the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on June 13.
However, he did not miss any Diamond League competition as the men’s javelin events were not scheduled for the following legs in Rabat, Rome, Paris, and Oslo.
Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, who won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and currently leads the season standings, Oliver Helander of Finland, Anderson Peters of Grenada, who won the 2012 Olympic title, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who won the title in 2012, and Julian Weber of Germany will also compete in Lausanne.
Chopra, who took first place in the Doha Diamond League competition, is presently ahead of Vadlejch and Peters in the standings with eight points each.
After winning the Diamond League trophy the previous year, the Indian superstar will be hoping to further solidify his ascent and supremacy in the coveted one-day tournament series.
Men’s javelin throw will also be contested after the Lausanne event in the legs in Monaco and Zurich on July 21 and August 31, respectively, before the Diamond League championship in Eugene, Oregon, on September 16-17.
Murali Sreeshankar, a long jumper who recently placed third in the Diamond League, will compete in this event as well. After placing third in Paris with an 8.09m leap earlier in June, he will be attempting to earn a second podium result.
In order to win gold at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships earlier this month, the 24-year-old Sreeshankar recorded a personal best leap of 8.41 metres, falling just 1 centimetre short of the national record of 8.42 metres, which is held by Jeswin Aldrin.
Aldrin initially submitted his name for the Lausanne Diamond League but later withdrew since he was not “fully fit” for the competition.
Along with Sreeshankar, a slew of foreign top performers, lead by Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, will compete. Simon Ehammer of Switzerland, who defeated Tentoglou in Oslo in mid-June with a leap of 8.32m, and teenage Italian sensation Mattia Furlani (8.24m) will also compete.
