Two-time Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Diamond League final. Neeraj participated in only two out of five meetings of the season, despite this he was successful in making it to the six-player final. Despite not qualifying for the Zurich Diamond League, their 12 points were enough to keep them sixth in the qualification. The Diamond League final will be held in Brussels on 4 and 5 September. The title match will be an important opportunity for Neeraj to test himself before the Asian Games.
Points are awarded to the top eight players in the Men’s Javelin Throw event during each Diamond League meeting. The winner gets eight points, while the player finishing eighth gets one point. The six athletes scoring the most points after the end of the qualification series qualify for the finals.
Neeraj Chopra participated in two meetings this season. He had secured fourth place in the Doha Diamond League with a best throw of 85.69 metres. After this, his performance was even better in Lausanne, where Neeraj finished second with a season best throw of 88.05 metres.
In the Zurich Diamond League, in the absence of Neeraj Chopra, Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage performed brilliantly and made a huge throw of 92.07 meters. This was the second longest throw of his career. Earlier, he had made a throw of 92.62 meters in the Rome Diamond League in June.
In Zurich, Rumesh Pathirage threw 88.23 meters in the second attempt, 89.90 meters in the third attempt and 92.07 meters in the last attempt. With this brilliant performance, he stood first in the qualification table with 39 points. Anderson Peters finished second in Zurich with a season’s best throw of 86.93m, while Poland’s David Wagner was third with 85.16m.
Javelin throwers who qualified for the finals
Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (Sri Lanka) – 39 points
Anderson Peters (Grenada) – 35 points
Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad & Tobago) – 23 points
Curtis Thompson (USA) – 20 points
Julius Yego (Kenya) – 13 points
Neeraj Chopra (India) – 12 points
Rumesh Pathirage’s performance in 2026 has been excellent. He appeared in five Diamond League meetings this season and won four. Only in Rabat did he finish second. This year he has two throws of more than 90 meters and seven throws of more than 88 meters. The 23-year-old Sri Lankan’s consistency makes him one of the strongest contenders for the Brussels final.
Meanwhile, India’s Rohit Yadav gave the best performance of his career by throwing 87.68 meters in the Continental Tour Silver Meet in Bhubaneswar. He did not take part in any Diamond League meeting this year, but will be expected to perform well in the Asian Games.