Neeraj Chopra in action at Zurich Diamond League final ahead of World Championships

ZURICH: Two-time Olympic medallist, India’s Neeraj Chopra, is all set to compete in the upcoming Diamond League Final 2025 in Zurich, which will be played at Switzerland’s iconic Letzigrund Stadium.

The two-day athletics grand finale starts on Wednesday, and Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw event at the Zurich Diamond League Final will start from 11:15 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) on Thursday, as per Olympics.com.

In 2022, Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to become a Diamond League champion in any event. Interestingly, that year, the Final was also held in Zurich. The Indian javelin ace also made the finals in the two subsequent editions held in Eugene and Brussels, respectively. However, on both occasions, he finished as a runner-up.

The Zurich Final marks the culmination of the 2025 Diamond League season, which featured 14 regular legs before the two-day finale. The 27-year-old Indian athlete has competed in two Diamond League meets this season – finishing second in Doha with a national record-breaking 90.23m, and winning the Paris leg with 88.16m.

Having secured his berth in the final, Neeraj opted to sit out the Silesia and Brussels leg of the 2025 Diamond League season, which also featured javelin throw competitions. The javelin throw final in Zurich features a strong seven-man line-up, with six athletes ranked inside the world’s top 10.

Grenada’s Anderson Peters will enter the Zurich meet as the reigning Diamond League champion, having pipped Neeraj by a single centimetre in Brussels last year. World leader Julian Weber of Germany, who beat Neeraj in Doha earlier this year, London 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott, and former world title holder Julius Yego are also in the fray. World No. 43 Simon Wieland is part of the field as the host nation’s entry.

Diamond League Final 2025: Javelin throw entry list
Neeraj Chopra (India): SB 90.23m | PB 90.23m | World Ranking: 1
Andrian Mardare (Moldova): SB 82.38m | PB 86.66m | World Ranking: 8
Anderson Peters (Grenada): SB 85.64m | PB 93.07m | World Ranking: 2
Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad & Tobago): SB 86.30m | PB 90.16m | World Ranking: 7
Julian Weber (Germany): SB 91.06m | PB 91.06m | World Ranking: 3
Simon Wieland (Switzerland): SB 79.33m | PB 79.44m | World Ranking: 43
Julius Yego (Kenya): SB 84.51m | PB 92.72m | World Ranking: 4

The Zurich meet will also be the perfect stage for Neeraj to prepare for his big title defence at the World Championships scheduled in Tokyo next month, according to Olympics.com.

The likes of Peters, Walcott, and Weber will be expected to be the biggest threats to his world champion title in Japan besides reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who has skipped this year’s Diamond League altogether.

Overall, Neeraj has competed in six events this season, winning four and finishing second twice. His last competitive outing was at the Neeraj Chopra (NC) Classic in Bengaluru on July 5, where he won with an 86.18m effort. (ANI)