Neeraj Chopra and Sri Lankan javelin thrower Rumesh Pathirage will renew their growing rivalry when they meet at the Lausanne Diamond League on Friday. This match-up is also important in the Diamond League where Chopra is trying to build his way to the final at the end of the season in Brussels.
The two javelin stars will meet just three weeks after Pathirage defeated Chopra to win gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Pathirage produced a dominant 89.75m throw and Chopra took silver with a season-best 85.83m. Their meeting will therefore be eagerly awaited, in which Chopra aims to close the gap on the Sri Lankan young thrower.
Pathirage has enjoyed a fantastic season and has established himself as one of the world’s top names in javelin. The 23-year-old has won eight of the nine competitions he has competed in this season including Diamond League gold in Doha and Rome. He also produced a career-best performance in Rome with a 92.62m throw, one of the few athletes to win the 90m mark.
Chopra has been able to take his recovery slowly and deliberately after lower back pain and has been managing his return to competition. It had sidelined him since September last year and put him on hold this time round and he was unable to begin his season. Although he is back at the Diamond League now in Doha, the Olympic champion has said he is still working his way back to full fitness.
"I can’t say my fitness is there like before. But I’m getting there slowly," Chopra said after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Following the Commonwealth Games, Chopra returned to his training base in Biel, Switzerland. He has continued his rehabilitation and training programme under the guidance of childhood coach Jaiveer Chaudhary and physiotherapist Ishan Marwah. The Lausanne competition will be another opportunity for him to assess his progress against a strong international field.
Chopra has not been without his troubles, however, and Chopra’s consistency is still one of his biggest strengths. The two-time Olympic medalist has only been outside of the top two in two competitions in the last five years, a remarkable achievement for a high-level athlete. Athletics Federation of India selection committee chairman Adille Sumariwalla has also told people not to judge Chopra too harshly when he finishes second, pointing to the Indian star’s remarkable consistency.
But the Lausanne field has lost some of its initial appeal after the withdrawals of world champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and European champion Julian Weber of Germany. Nadeem has failed to achieve the heights of his Olympic triumph in Paris, where he set a national and Olympic record of 92.97m. His best throw this year has been 78.63m and he placed ninth at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with 77.41m.
Weber had also emerged as a major contender after becoming the second javelin thrower after Pathirage to make it to 90m this season. His 90.40m effort secured European Championship gold.
Even without the two great names, Lausanne will have a competitive field. Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada's Anderson Peters, a two-time world champion and Paris Olympics bronze medallist, will be Chopra's main rivals. American World Championships bronze medallist Curtis Thompson and the veteran Czech thrower Jakub Vadlejch, the silver medallist from Tokyo Olympics, will also be involved.
For Chopra, the meeting can be a big match for the Diamond League qualification. He is currently seventh in the javelin points list with six points. The top six athletes in jumps and throws qualify for the Diamond League Finals, which are due to take place on September 4 and 5 in Brussels. A national or global wildcard may be needed to take one of the places.
Pathirage and Peters have already secured their place in the final after collecting 23 and 22 points respectively. Chopra has another men's javelin for the Zurich Diamond League on August 27, so he has more chances to improve his status.
Chopra has won the title in 2022 and finished second in 2023, 2024, and 2025 in the Diamond League Finals. A good performance in Lausanne would not only be a key one to secure qualification but to get momentum going into the final stages of the season.
The Lausanne contest could also have implications for Chopra's qualification prospects for the first World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest from September 11 to 13. Chopra is ninth in the world rankings and outside the automatic top-eight qualification bracket for the prestigious event. A top-three finish in Lausanne could help him improve his position.
As Pathirage enjoys the best form of his career and Chopra has been slowly regaining his rhythm, Friday's javelin competition would be a fascinating chapter in their growing rivalry. Pathirage will be hoping to extend his winning run but Chopra will need to perform in order to continue to show that he is among the world's best javelin throwers.
