Nine jumps over 8m in Aldrin-Sree grand duel
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin won a thrilling long jump duel with Kerala’s Murali Sreeshankar on Day 2 of the Federation Cup athletics meet in Kozhikode, Kerala. Both went beyond Sreeshankar’s national record of 8.26m to register the farthest two jumps in the event by Indians. In fact, the competition saw nine 8-metre plus jumps, five by Aldrin.
Still Aldrin, 20, will have to be satisfied only with gold as his second jump of 8.37m had a tailwind of 4.1 metres/second. The permissible tailwind in sprints and jumps is 2 m/s. It will thus not be considered as a national record. Sreeshankar produced a best of 8.36m, .01m short of Aldrin’s effort. But it came with a legal tailwind.
The national mark will thus stay with Sreeshankar, who jumped 8.26m at Patiala in March last year. The Athletics Federation of India website indicates the attempt awaits formal ratification. He also has a ratified 8.20m against his name.
“Jeswin Aldrin’s 8.37m was not a legal one and so will not be counted for record purposes and for any qualification. But his 8.26m (in his fourth attempt) was legal and so he has also qualified for the world championships,” Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI. “Sreeshankar’s 8.36m will be the new national record (if ratified) as it was a legal one.”
The contest between Sreeshankar, 23, and Aldrin was one of the most anticipated of Day 2. Aldrin entered the 8m club less than a month back, clearing 8.20m in the Indian GP I in Thiruvananthapuram last month. The jumper from the port town of Thoothukudi went a long way further at the CH Muhammed Koya Stadium on Sunday.
Tokyo Olympian Sreeshankar opened with 8.16m and Aldrin touched 8.01m. The Tokyo Olympian fouled the next attempt and Aldrin produced 8.37m. Aldrin had five legal jumps while Sreeshankar recorded only three though all breached 8m.
“He has been in good form. This was just his third competition post Olympics, he has had a great start to the season,” S Murali, Sreeshankar’s father and coach, said. Sreeshankar though managed only a sub-8 metre effort at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. He cleared 7.92m, a national indoor record, to come seventh.
Murali had expected his son to rewrite the national record. “He exceeded my expectations. To go over 8.30 is superb. This shows he has the potential to become world-class.”
The 8.36m would have won Sreeshankar bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, where he was eliminated in the qualifying round with a best of 7.69m. Cuba’s Maykel Masso took bronze at 8.21m.
Muhammed Anees Yahiya, silver medallist at last month’s Indian Open National Jumps Competition in Thiruvananthapuram with a personal best of 8.15m, cleared 8.06m to finish third. In a packed athletics calendar with World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, these are interesting times for Indian jumpers. “It is an encouraging sign for Indian athletics. Jeswin has been in good form too, and it was great to see Sree and Jeswin pushing each other,” said Murali, a former triple jumper.
Meanwhile, Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra won the women’s 400m with a sensational run, clocking 51.18secs. Only Hima Das (nat’l record 50.79sec) and Manjeet Kaur (51.05sec) have run faster than Aishwarya. Tamil Nadu’s B Siva Kumar (10.37secs) and Dutee Chand (Odisha-11.49secs) won the men’s and women’s 100m.*