Diamond League season finale: Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable spearhead Indian problem

Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable will be spearheading the Indian challenge in the Diamond League season finale starting on September 13, 2024.

Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable shall be spearheading the Indian problem within the Diamond League season finale beginning on September 13, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score: ANI/Getty Pictures

Javelin throw star Neeraj Chopra could have lofty expectations to stay as much as, whereas for steeplechaser Avinash Sable, it could be a possibility to make up for a disappointing Olympics, when the the star-studded Diamond League season finale begins in Brussels on Friday (September 13, 2024), that includes the very best of world athletics.

The showpiece is unfold over two days for the primary time and the sphere options prime athletes from all continents, together with an unprecedented variety of Olympic medal winners, who shall be vying for the highest honours in 32 disciplines.

Pole vault world document holder Armand DuPlantis, American dash queen Sha’Carri Richardson, and celebrity hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are among the many large names who will gentle up the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.

Nationwide record-holding 3000m steeplechaser Sable, after ending eleventh within the Olympic Video games, shall be in motion on Friday in his maiden look within the DL season finale.

Chopra, who added a silver to his Olympic medal tally in Paris following a historic gold within the Tokyo Video games, shall be aiming to finish his season on a excessive on Saturday.

It’s for the primary time {that a} DL finale options two Indians.

Sable completed 14th within the general Diamond League standings with three factors from two conferences. However 4 athletes ranked increased than him — Lamecha Girma (injured) of Ethiopia, Geordie Beamish of New Zealand, Ryuji Mura of Japan and Hillary Bor of the USA — pulled out, permitting him to sneak inside the highest 12 cut-off.

5 conferences out of the 14 within the DL collection internationally this season had males’s 3000m steeplechase occasion.

The 29-year-old Sable had completed sixth with a nationwide document time of 8:09.91 — bettering his personal earlier mark — within the Paris leg of the Diamond League on July 7. He was 14th on the Silesia leg with a time of 8:29.96 on August 25.

Chopra, however, made the DL remaining reduce after ending fourth within the general standings with 14 factors from his two second-place finishes within the one-day meets held in Doha and Lausanne.

Every Diamond League season finale champion is awarded a ‘Diamond Trophy’, USD 30,000 prize cash and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships. The runner-up will get USD 12,000.

Chopra skipped the final collection meet in Zurich final week.

The 26-year-old completed two factors behind Czechia’s Jakub Vadlech. Grenada’s Anderson Peters and German star Julian Weber took the highest two spots with 29 and 21 factors respectively.

Chopra has been struggling together with his health this season and is anticipated to satisfy a physician to rectify a groin damage that has affected him all season and got here in the best way of his quest to hit the 90m mark.

He had gained the Lausanne leg in 2022 and 2023 and completed second behind Vadlejch within the winner-takes-all finale in Eugene, USA, final yr.