It was probably Neeraj Chopra’s best in his decorated career so far, in Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday. It was the story of an exceptional comeback. 

The 26-year-old Chopra was in the fourth spot till the fourth round before sending his spear to 85.58m in his fifth attempt to storm past Artur Felfner of Ukraine and take the third spot, which also sent him in the final round along with Webber and Peters.

The Paris Olympics silver medalist was the last to throw based on the standings and he needed something special to improve his standing. And he did.

Neeraj screamed as soon as the javelin left his hand, ignoring his tumble near the white line in an acute similarity to the throw that gave him gold in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The javelin flew ever so close to the 90m mark and settled in at 89.49m - Neeraj's season-best and enough to give him the second spot in the Lausanne Diamond League.

But Neeraj was not satisfied. He let out a loud cry of anguish. The top spot had eluded him. The 90m mark had eluded him once again.

Anderson Peters, who was watching all this unfold from close quarters, breathed a sigh of relief. With a big smile on his face, he gave Neeraj a warm hug. Webber also congratulated the Indian - the three, after all, have been locked in javelin finals for the last four years and counting.