One centimeter. In the end, that was all the distance that separated Neeraj Chopra and Grenada’s Anderson Peters. On a cold night in Brussels, it was an equally cold way to miss out on his second Diamond League Final title. It also summed up the kind of year the champion javelin thrower from India had. After all, 2024 started with Neeraj finishing second at the Doha Diamond League meet by 2 centimeters. The season tested Neeraj’s abilities to the fullest possible extent. And yet, sample this for a return: one Olympic Games silver medal, a runner-up finish in athletics’ most important international event apart from Paris, three throws beyond 89m for his career’s second, third, and fifth-best marks. All under a stalking shadow of a niggle. By any normal yardstick, that goes down as a successful season for a truly elite athlete. But, just like that night at the Stade de France in Paris, Neeraj’s reactions at the King Baudouin Stadium on Saturday night gave out the vibes of a man searching for something elusive. …