Murali Sreeshankar, the Long Jumper Wins Gold at International Jumping Meeting in Kallithea, Greece

At the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event, Murali Sreeshankar, the long jumper grabbed the title with a jump of 8.18m. The athlete finally made India proud at the prestigious International Jumping Meeting in Kallithea, Greece. Another India, Jeswin Aldrin with his personal best of 8.42m, however, grabbed the second spot with a 7.85m jump. Sreeshankar, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist made five consistent jumps of over 8 meters.

With 7.94m, he started the competition on his first attempt. And thereafter continued with 8.17m, 8.11m, 8.04m, and 8.01m and then went on to perform the best with a jump of 8.18m. The season has proved to be beneficial for the athlete and is the third event wherein his efforts are being praised. At the Indian GP, Sreeshankar jumped 7.94m, and last month in Chula Vista, California he made it to 8.29m with the help of wind.

The athlete since April has been training in Lubbock at Texas Tech University with Keith Herston as his coach, who is guiding him with horizontal jumps. Even S. Muraleedharan, the jumper’s father is also assisting to coach Sreeshankar. In March at the Indian Open Jumps competition, Aldrin broke Sreeshankar’s national mark of 8.36 with his own 8.42m. Thus, he had a good start to the season but on Wednesday his struggle was real to even make it to 8m.

But he did reach the mark of 7.74m and 7.79m, as well as 7.81m, 7.85m, and 7.74m. In the Cuban meet earlier, he hit the record of 8.06m. In Budapest, the qualifying standard is 8.25m for the August World Athletics Championships. And Aldrin has qualified for it by distance.