Two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished runner-up in the Diamond League Finals for the third time in a row as Julian Weber of Germany lifted his maiden trophy with two 90m-plus throws in a commanding show in Zurich on Thursday.
Chopra was lying third till the fifth round following his opening throw of 84.35m before his final effort of 85.01m took him to the second spot, overtaking 2012 London Olympics gold winner Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago who ended third with 84.95m.
Weber achieved a season world leading throw of 91.57m, his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with a 91.37m effort, and after that it was a one-man show in the seven-man field.
None of Weber's rivals could come near his mark, as his best effort of the day was over 6m more than that of Chopra's throw. The German had a foul, 83.66m, 86.45m and 88.66m after his second throw.
Clearly, Chopra was not at his best in the season's Diamond League grand finale. He had three legal throws out of the six attempts.
Known for his consistency in producing 88m-plus throws, it was a rare instance of the 27-year-old Indian star just being able to touch the 85m mark.
He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third consecutive time after 2023 and 2024.
Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada was fourth with 82.06m.
Chopra was not his usual self as he began with a throw of 84.35m. He then hurled the javelin to a distance of 82m, followed by a foul. He was at third spot at the halfway stage, and he fouled his fourth and fifth attempts before coming up with a 85.01m effort in his last throw.
Weber's effort was also his third 90m-plus throw of the season as well as his career. He had breached the coveted 90m mark with a 91.06m throw while winning the Doha DL title on May 16.
Chopra also breached the 90m mark for the first time in Doha with a throw of 90.23m but finished second behind Weber.
Chopra will now head to Tokyo for next month's World Championships as the defending champion.
With Thursday's title, Weber extended head-to-head record against Chopra to 3-1. The German had earlier beaten Chopra to second place in the Doha Diamond League in May and Orlen Janusz Kusocinski Memorial event in Chorzow, Poland, the same month.
Chopra won in Paris Diamond League in June with Weber finishing second.
However, Chopra leads Weber in overall head-to-head record by a wide margin of 15-5 in competitions involving the duo since 2016.
For the record, Chopra had not finished outside second place since June 2021.
He had skipped the Silesia and Brussels legs of the Diamond League on August 16 and August 22 respectively, but qualified for the finals in Zurich in fourth spot with 15 points. The top six in the points table from the four meetings qualify for the finals in Zurich.
There were four Diamond League meetings which featured the men's javelin throw, and Chopra competed in only two -- in Doha in May and Paris in June. He finished second in Doha and won the title in Paris.
Chopra's last event was the Neeraj Chopra Classic in Bengaluru on July 5 which he hosted and won with a throw of 86.18m.