Athletics: M Sreeshankar to feature in first Diamond League event of 2023 at Paris meet

Sreeshankar Murali will return to the Diamond League in Paris on Friday and will be hoping to meet the qualification standards for the 2023 Athletics World Championships in Budapest in August.

The 24-year old made his Diamond League debut in 2022 when he finished in sixth place at the event in Monaco with a jump of 7.94m. This was just a week after he had won a historic silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK and a month after he had placed seventh at the World Championships in Eugene, USA.

Sreeshankar has already qualified for the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China when he jumped 8.18m at the International Jumping Meeting 2023 in Kallithea, Greece back in May. With this effort, he beat out compatriot and current national record-holder Jeswin Aldrin to set his season-best (wind-legal) distance. Currently, Aldrin holds the world lead at the moment with a distance of 8.42m (recorded back in March this year).

The 24-year old Sreeshankar had crossed the World Championships qualifying mark of 8.25m with his effort of 8.29m in April this year at the MVA High Performance athletics meet in Chula Vista, USA. Although he won the gold medal at that meet, his jump had a wind assistance of +3.1m/s.

Olympic medallists Miltiadis Tentoglou, Maykel Masso (gold and bronze) and World Championships bronze medallist Simon Ehammer are present in the start list too, making it a very competitive field in Paris. Masso’s season’s best of 8.36m is the leading distance in the field at Paris.

Currently, Sreeshankar’s personal best of 8.36m is the fourth-highest among the personal bests of the field, ahead of Tentoglou’s 8.60m, Ehammer’s 8.45m and Masso’s 8.39m.

Here’s a look at the start list for men’s long jump at Meeting de Paris:

The men’s long jump starts 21.19 local time (00.49 past midnight in India) and will be broadcast live on Sports 18 / JioCinema in India.