Kochi: Kerala teenager Sreeshankar Murali set a new national record of 8.20m in men’s long jump at the 58th national open athletics championships at Bhubaneshwar on Thursday.
The 19-year-old from Palakkad who had never cleared the eight-metre barrier earlier, did so twice in the day. His third jump of 8.11m had more or less ensured him the gold medal, but Sreeshankar produced a massive one in his fifth attempt that erased Ankit Sharma’s 8.19m record set two years ago. Services’ Jinesh V. and Haryana’s Sahil Mahabali settled for silver and bronze with 7.95m and 7.81m respectively.
Sreeshankar is now the world’s leading youth long jumper this year as his effort puts him ahead of Cuban Vidal Maikel Yorges who was leading the table of the world’s best U20 jumpers with 8.12m since June.
Also, he has become only the second Malayali to clear eight metres in the event, an achievement that comes 44 years after the legendary T.C. Yohanan’s Gold medal winning 8.07m at the Tehran Asian Games.Sreeshankar's parents are S. Murali, who was a former national triple jumper and Bijimol Murali, a national-level 800m runner.
