Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar qualified for the 2023 World Athletics Championship on Sunday, with a jump of 8.41m in the ongoing 2023 National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Sreeshankar, who won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, recorded a best jump of 8.41m in his very first attempt of the qualification round. The Athletics Championship qualification mark was set at 8.25m.
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62nd national inter state senior athletics championship in Bhubaneshwar.
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) June 18, 2023
Sreeshankar Murali big opening jump of 8.41m in qualification round earns him ticket to Asian Games and World Athletics Championship. pic.twitter.com/MLX734xSVL
Speaking after the event, Sreeshankar said,
The wind reading was fine, it was 1.5m/s. Just short of the national record but I am happy to have made this jump.
While the effort was enough for him to book his berth in the World Athletics Championship, he missed out on the national record by a whisker. Jeswin Aldrin, who registered a leap of 8.42m earlier in March this year, currently holds the national record.
The long jumper's effort on Sunday was also his personal best as he bettered his mark of 8.23m. It also helped him comfortably cross the Asian Games 2023 qualification mark which is set at 7.95m.
The final round of the National Athletics Championship is scheduled to happen on Monday at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
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