India’s M Sreeshankar finished seventh in the men’s long jump final at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday.

The Kerala jumper, the first ever Indian to qualify for the men’s long jump final in this event’s history, started solidly but could not better his first attempt of 7.96m.

World Athletics Championships men’s long jump final as it happened: M Sreeshankar finishes seventh

Anju Bobby George, the only Indian to win a medal at the Worlds so far, had finished 3rd and 4th in 2003 and 2005. Sreeshankar’s 7th is now the joint third-best finish in any event at the Worlds by an Indian athlete.

The event was thrillingly won by China’s Jianan Wang who pulled off a massive 8.36m jump on his last attempt to snatch the gold medal from Tokyo Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou. Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer took home bronze.

Sreeshankar took the lead after the first series of jumps with his 7.96m effort. However, he fouled out in his second attempt as Tentoglou, Ehammer, Maykel Masso, Steffin McCarter and Marquis Dendy jumped over 8m with their second attempts.

Sreeshankar looked like he too breached the 8m mark with his third attempt only to foul by the slimmest of margins. The 23-year-old was in danger of missing out from the second round of the final but Thobias Montler and Yuki Hashioka couldn’t get past Sreeshankar’s mark with their third jumps.

Sreeshankar jumped 7.89m with his fourth and followed it up by fouling on the next attempt. The 23-year-old could only jump 7.83m with his final attempt to finish in seventh place.

Tentoglou, meanwhile, posted in jumps of 8.29m and 8.24m with his third and fourth jumps before tightening his hold on gold with an 8.32m on his fifth attempt.

Having jumped 8.03m with his third and fifth attempts, Wang pulled off a stunning 8.36m jump to take the lead. Suddenly put under pressure, Tentoglou could only jump 8.20m with his final attempt. Ehammer’s second jump of 8.16m was enough to win him bronze.

Men's long jump final

Position ATHLETE NAT MARK WIND
1 Jianan WANG CHN 8.36 SB +0.5
2 Miltiadis TENTOGLOU GRE 8.32  +0.5
3 Simon EHAMMER SUI 8.16  +0.5
4 Maykel MASSÓ CUB 8.15 SB +0.5
5 Steffin MCCARTER USA 8.04  +0.3
6 Marquis DENDY USA 8.02  0.0
7 . SREESHANKAR IND 7.96  +0.4
8 Eusebio CÁCERES ESP 7.93  +0.3
9 Wayne PINNOCK JAM 7.88  +0.5
10 Yuki HASHIOKA JPN 7.86  +0.4
11 Thobias MONTLER SWE 7.81  -0.7
12 Henry FRAYNE AUS 7.80  +0.2
via World Athletics
Play

Elsewhere for the Indian contingent, in women’s 3000m steeplechase Parul Chaudhary did well to marginally improve her personal best timing to 9:38.09. She finished 31st overall out of 42 athletes.

In men’s 400m hurdles, MP Jabir finished seventh Heat 2 with a time of 50.76s. It wasn’t enough to advance to the semifinals. He finished 31st among 35 athletes to register a timing.

World Athletics Championships: Full schedule and results of events featuring Indian athletes

No Indian athlete is in action on day three of the championships.