Zurich Diamond League Highlights: Neeraj Chopra finishes second with 85.71m throw, Sreeshankar fifth with 7.99m jump

While the Diamond League series still has two more stops in Xiamen and Brussels, it is done as far as men’s javelin throw and long jump are concerned and the qualified athletes will next be in action in the season finale in Eugene on September 16-17.

Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) - 85.86m

Neeraj Chopra (India) - 85.71m

Julian Weber (Germany) - 85.04m

Oliver Helander (Finland) - 83.65m

Edis Matusevicius (Lithuania) - 81.62m

Anderson Peters (Grenada) - 81.01m

Roderick Genki Dean (Japan) - 79.93m

Andrian Mardare (Moldova) - 79.13m

Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) - 8.20m

Tajay Clarke (Jamaica) - 8.07m

Jarrion Lawson (USA) - 8.05m

Radek Juska (Czech Republic) - 8.04m

M. Sreeshankar (India) - 7.99m

Simon Ehammer (Switzerland) - 7.97m

Williams Williams (USA) - 7.81m

Olympic and world champion Armand Duplantis yet again tried to set a new world record of 6.23m after sealing the victory but could not do so.

Top three:

Armand Duplantis (Sweden) - 6m

Sam Kendricks (USA) - 5.95m

KC Lightfoot (USA) - 5.85m

Vadlejch fouls. He still leads though with 85.86m. Can either Weber or Neeraj overtake him?

Neeraj will have a shot first. The Indian comes up with his best throw of the night - 85.71m - but it is not enough to go past Vadlejch!

Julian Weber’s final throw is 84.92m and he will finish third.

The world champion storms to victory in 19.80s, followed by fellow American Erriyon Knighton (19.87s) in second and Zharnel Hughes (19.94s) of Great Britain in third.

Danielle Williams (Jamaica) - 12.54s

Alaysha Johnson (USA) - 12.58s

Kendra Harrison (USA) - 12.59s

It’s a foul for leader Vadlejch. Weber stays third as his throw of 82.01m does not take him past Neeraj.

Helander comes up with his best throw of the night - 83.65m - but stays fourth only.

Matusevicius - 79.58m.

It’s a foul for Neeraj in the penultimate round. With only three more athletes yet to go in this round, the Indian looks set to finish in top three and get one extra attempt.

Anderson Peters finally crosses the 80m mark - it is 81.01m but he will finish sixth.

Vadlejch, Neeraj and Weber will get one extra attempt each.

Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia) - 12:46.91s

Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) - 12:5417s

Grant Fisher (USA) - 12:54.49s

Gayle comes up with 8.06m jump in the final round.

7.86m for Lawson.

Tentoglou needs to go past 8.07m to win this as otherwise, he can lose on the second-best jump.

AND HE DOES!!!!! Miltiadis Tentoglou, in his final attempt, comes up with a 8.20m jump to win it all. He did that inBudapest too. He does it again. The Greek jumper is simly amazing!

Julian Weber extends his lead as he comes up with a throw of 85.04m. First throw of the night that is above 85 mark.

And he is down to second now as Vadlejch goes to top with 85.86m. Wow!

No improvement for Helander - 78.61m, 79.56m for Matusevicius.

And the world champion fights back!!! Neeraj Chopra with a 85.22m throw to move into second position!!!!

At the end of fourth round, Neeraj stays second. Can he push himself to win it with the next throw?

It has not been a good day for many world champions and same is the case with Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy who finishes fourth with 2.24m.

Top three:

Mutaz Barshim (Qatar) - 2.35m

Hamish Kerr (New Zealand) - 2.33m

Sanghyeok Woo (Korea) - 2.24m (Beat Tamberi on countback)

Tentoglou, now trailing, comes up with 8m jump but it is not good enough to overtake Gayle.

7.93m for Sreeshankar. We’ll have to wait and see if the Indian stays in third position at the end of this round and gets one more jump.

And Sreeshankar’s competition is over as Jarrion Lawson of the US comes up with a 8.05m to go into second place!

Sreeshankar is down to fourth now.

Make that fifth as Czech Republic’s Radek Juska also goes past him with a 8.04m jump.

No problem for world champion Shericka Jackson as she wins the race easily.

Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) - 21.82s

Daryll Neita (Great Britain) - 22.25s

Kayla White (USA) - 22.33s

Just like second round, Sreeshankar registers a jump of 7.96m. There has been only jump above 8m so far and that was from world champion Tentoglou.

Tentoglou has decided to skip this round

Ehammer improves to 7.97m.

And Gayle takes the lead with a massive jump of 8.07m!!!!

Sreeshankar is down to third.

Vadlejch does not improve his previous attempt of 83.46m as this one is just 80.04m long.

Another foul for Neeraj. Foul for Helander too.

Peters yet again fails to cross 80m. Weber, the leader, manages only 79.04m this time.

At the end of this round, no change in top five.

Laura Muir (Great Britain) - 1:57.71s

Catriona Bisset (Australia) - 1:58.77s

Adelle Tracery (Jamaica) - 1:59.05s

Nothing much going right for world champion Neeraj so far as he commits a foul in this round.

Vadlejch takes the lead with a throw of 83.46m.

Foul for Peters too.

We have a new leader as Weber goes past Vadlejch with 84.75m throw!

Helander moves into third spot as his throw of 81.63m is just 1cm better than Matusevicius’ one from first round. The Lithuanian can only manage 81.18m in this round.

At the end of the second round, Neeraj is down to fifth place.

Sreeshankar does not manage to improve his first round effort of 7.99m as he commits a foul this time.

Tajay Gayle comes close to overtaking him but stops at 7.96m.

The Indian stays second after three rounds.

Yared Nuguse of the US beats new world champion Josh Kerr by two hundredths of a second to win the race! That was a stunning finish from the American.

Top three:

Yared Nuguse (USA) - 3:30.49s

Josh Kerr (Great Britain) - 3:30.51s

Abel Kipsang (Kenya) - 3:30.85s

Men’s Javelin Throw competition is underway and it is the new world champion Neeraj Chopra who opens the competition with a throw of 80.79m.

Foul for world championship bronze medallist Vadlejch.

Former world champion Anderson Peters - 78.78m.

74.93m for Helander and a foul for Weber.

Edis Matusevicius of Lithuania takes the lead with a throw of 81.62m

No other athlete manages to go past Neeraj in first round.

World Champion for a reason! Tentoglou comes back to take the lead with a jump of 8.04m.

Local favourite Ehammer with 7.88m in this round. Not better than his first round jump of 7.93m. Gayle registers his first legal jump and it is a good one - 7.86m. Followed by McLeod, the other Jamaican, who comes up with 7.50m jump this time.

Sreeshankar’s second round jump is 7.96m, not better than his first round attempt but the consistency is there. So, a big jump might still come tonight.

Furlani - 6.90m, foul for Williams.

Sreeshankar stays second with 7.99m but Jarrion Lawson moves into third with 7.98m jump in this round.

In almost a repeat of the race at the World Athletics Championships last week in Budapest, Winfred Yavi of Bahrain stays close to Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech for most part before overtaking her to win it on the final lap!

Top three:-

Winfred Yavi (Bahrain) - 9:03.19s

Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya) - 9:03.70s

Faith Cherotich (Kenya) - 9:07.59s

Murali Sreeshankar in action soon. One world champion has already been beaten tonight. Can Sreeshankar inflict defeat on another in Tentoglou?

Tentoglou starts with 7.95m jump.

Ehammer with 7.93m. Foul for Gayle followed by a 5.31m jump from his compatriot McLeod.

Solid start for Sreeshankar who goes to the top of the table with an opening jump of 7.99m

7.53m for Italy’s Furlani, 7.81m for Williams from USA, 7.69m for Juska from the Czech Republic.

Jarrion Lawson of the US begins with 7.83m to go fourth.

In her first race as a world champion, Richardson begins well and then pulls the trigger to beat Morrison for the win!

Top three

Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) - 10.88s

Natasha Morrison (Jamaica) - 11.00s

Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica) - 11.00s

Start List

Natasha Morrison (Jamaica)

Zoe Hobbs (New Zealand)

Twanisha Terry (USA)

World Champion - Sha’Carri Richardson (USA)

Olympic Champion - Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)

Mujinga Kambundji (Switzerland)

Anthonique Strachan (Bahamas)

Shashalee Forbes (Jamaica)

Tamara Clark (USA)

It’s basically a fight between the athletes in Lanes four and five.

All eyes on Olympic and world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway. There is no Rai Benjamin of USA to challenge him today but Alison Dos Santos is there. Warholm in lane 7 and the Brazilin in lane 5.

Aggressive start from Warholm but Kyron McMaster is challenging him properly. And he completes the upset!!!!

Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands, who took the silver medal at World Championships in Budapest, wins with 47.27s while Warholm is second with 47.30s. Dos Santos is third with 47.62s.

Norway’s Havard Ingvaldsen wins the men’s 400m competition with a timing of 45.28s followed by Italy’s Davide Re (45.49s) and Belgium’s Dylan Borlee (45.67s).

Four-time world champion Yulimar Rojas wins the competition tonight with a jump of 15.15m.

Top three:

Yulimar Rojas (VEN) - 15.15m

Shanieka Ricketts (JAM) - 14.78m

Liadagmis Povea (CUB) - 14.73m

After a disappointing campaign at World Athletics Championships where he could not event qualify for the final, long Murali Sreeshankar will look to bounce back tonight in Zurich.

Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)

Simon Ehammer (SUI)

Tajay Gayle (JAM)

Carey McLeod (JAM)

M. Sreeshankar (IND)

Mattia Furlani (ITA)

William Williams (USA)

Radek Juska (CZE)

Jarrion Lawson (USA)

This is the first competition where Neeraj Chopra will compete as world champion.

Neeraj Chopra (IND)

Jakub Vadlejch (CZE)

Anderson Peters (GRE)

Julian Weber (GER)

Oliver Helander (FIN)

Edis Matusevicius (LTU)

David Wegner (POL)

Andrian Mardare (MDA)

Timothy Herman (BEL)

Roderick Genki Dean (JPN)

The 2023 Zurich Diamond League will be broadcast on Sports18 1 and Sports18 1 HD and live streamed on JioCinema app/website.

Men’s Long Jump - M. Sreeshankar - 11:54PM IST

Men’s Javelin Throw - Neeraj Chopra - 12:12AM IST