NEW DELHI: The newest rivalry in men’s javelin is set to resume sooner than expected.Just days after Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage edged Neeraj Chopra to the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Glasgow, the two South Asian stars will lock horns again at the Lausanne Diamond League on August 21 in Switzerland.The Lausanne meet will feature one of the strongest javelin fields of the season, with five athletes from the Commonwealth Games final, including Pathirage, Chopra, Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, Trinidad and Tobago’s reigning world champion Keshorn Walcott and India’s bronze medallist Yash Vir Singh.
Glasgow rivals set for round two
Pathirage heads to Lausanne in red-hot form after winning the Commonwealth Games title with a throw of 89.75m. Chopra, meanwhile, claimed silver with a season-best 85.83m in only his second competition since returning from a lower-back injury.The field also includes former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, former Olympic champion Thomas Röhler of Germany, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, Germany’s Julian Weber, Switzerland’s Simon Wieland and American Curtis Thompson.“The five javelin superstars, who have won the last four editions of the Olympic Games and World Championships, will be present at Athletissima on August 21 for a competition of extraordinary quality,” the organisers said.
Chopra eyes another step forward
Lausanne will be Chopra’s third competition since returning from the injury that sidelined him last September. He opened his season with an 85.69m effort to finish fourth at the Doha Diamond League before improving to 85.83m in Glasgow.“Although we always want the National anthem to play, I did my season’s best and the comeback is going okay. There are other competitions as well. I am happy,” Chopra said after winning silver at the Commonwealth Games.For Pathirage, Lausanne offers another chance to underline his status as the sport’s newest force. The Sri Lankan has already produced a personal best of 92.62m in Rome this season, making him the only javelin thrower to cross the 90-metre mark in 2026.With Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem also returning to the circuit after his disappointing Commonwealth Games outing, Lausanne promises another blockbuster contest. But the spotlight will firmly be on whether Chopra can turn the tables on the man who denied him Commonwealth Games gold and continue building what could become athletics’ next great javelin rivalry.
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