Murali Sreeshankar from Kerala and Jeswin Aldrin from Tamil Nadu pushed each other to break the national records in a fascinating contest on Sunday, the second day of the Federation Cup athletics meet in Kozhikode, Kerala. Aldrin clinched the gold medal in the meet with a jump of 8.37m, however, it will not be counted as the national record because he recorded a wind-aided jump (the wind reading was above the legal limit of 2m).
Sreeshankar, on the other hand, finished second in the competition with a jump of 8.36m and in the process, broke his previous national record of 8.26m.
The tournament witnessed another record with three Indians recording jumps over 8m for the first time.
“This is a new standard of long jump in India, and the competition will definitely help the sport. I am happy that I have managed to qualify for the World Championship with my performance and I am hoping that I can repeat my performances on the world stage as well,” Aldrin said.
Aldrin, who was scouted into the Inspire Institute of Sport athletics program in 2018 as a talented 16-year old with a personal best of 7.51m, has trained under French Head Coach Antony Yaich for three years and has been sent for training and exposure camps to France and South Africa in the last few years. Since January, he’s been working with the new IIS Athletics Head Coach Yoandri Betanzos from Cuba, who is a five-time World Championship medal-winning triple jumper.
Sreeshankar also spoke about his duel with Aldrin in the Federation Cup, “It was a world-class performance by Jeswin and it’s great to have us push each other. (Muhammed) Anees also jumped 8m plus, so this is a great sign for Indian long jump and hopefully, we’ll have some good performances in the upcoming major events.”
Aldrin and Sreeshankar also qualified for the World Championship to be held in Orgeon, USA later this year, as they recorded jumps over the qualification mark of 8.22m. Aldrin’s second-best jump of 8.26m, which wasn’t a wind-aided jump, was counted for his qualification. The two jumps (Sreeshankar - 8.36m and Aldrin - 8.26m) are now the top two marks in the world so far (outdoors).