Watch: Long jumper Sreeshankar wins title in Greece meet
Long jumper Murali Sreesankar cleared a season’s best effort of 8.18m to clinch the title at the International Jumping Meeting – a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event – in Kallithea, Greece. The other Indian, Jesvin Aldrin, finished second with a personal best of 8.42m despite a modest effort of 7.85m.
Commonwealth Games silver medalist Sreeshankar was the picture of consistency with five jumps above 8m. He took the lead with a first attempt of 7.94m and then did a series of 8.17m, 8.11m, 8.04m and 8.01 before clearing his personal best of 8.18m.
This was Sreesankar’s third event of the season. He jumped 7.94m in the Indian GP and 8.29m in Chula Vista, California last month. Sreeshankar has been training at Texas Tech University in Lubbock since April, where he is being guided by horizontal jump coach Keith Hurston along with the jumper’s father and coach S Muraleedharan.
Aldrin made a strong start to the season when he broke Sreeshankar’s (8.36m) national mark with a throw of 8.42m at the Indian Open Jump competition in March. On Wednesday, however, he was struggling to touch 8m. His series were 7.81m, 7.85m, 7.74m, 7.74m and 7.79m. Earlier, he had made a record of 8.06 meters in a meet in Cuba.
The qualifying standard for the August World Athletics Championships in Budapest is 8.25 metres. Aldrin has already achieved the distance standards.
