Seventeen-year-old Tejaswin Shankar jumped into the record books at the National Junior Athletics meet at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Friday by breaking the national record in the men’s high jump event, reported the Times of India.

Shankar notched up 2.26 metre in his second attempt and broke the national record of 2.25 metre set by Harishankar Roy of West Bengal at the Asian All-Stars meet in Singapore in 2004. Shankar began his quest after silver medallist Anandhu KS (2.04m) of Kerala and bronze medallist Nishant of Haryana (2.02) completed their tries.

Coached by his school physical education teacher Sunilkumar and inspired by YouTube clips of leading high jumpers, Shankar cleared 2.06, 2.12, 2.18, and 2.21 metre and easily went past the junior record of 2.17 metre. Shankar cleared 2.24 in his second attempt and raised the bar to 2.26 metre. After a failed try, he cleared the height on his second attempt to eclipse the 12-year-old record.

“I hope I made up for missing the World Junior Meet in Poland, earlier this year. I was met with a freak accident while riding pillion with my friend on a scooter just before the squad was finalised,” Shankar said. “My record effort will make me World No. 2 in the under-20 category.”