World Athletics Championships 2022: Sreeshankar becomes 1st male long jumper to advance to finals

By Bibhu Ray

(The Quiver) : The 23 year old Murali Sreeshankar become the first Indian male long jumper to advance to the World Athletics Championships finals on the first day of the competition.

Sreeshankar, who entered the competition as a long shot for a medal at the second slot on the season’s top list, finished second in Group B of the qualification phase and seventh overall with the best jump of exactly 8 meters.
On the other hand, Jeswin Aldrin, and Muhammed Anees Yahiya were the other two Indian players who failed to make it to the final round after finishing ninth and 11th in the Group A qualification round with the best jumps of 7.79m and 7.73m respectively.
The 23-year-old has been a consistent performer with the 8.36m jump at the Federation Cup in April, followed by 8.31m and 8.23m at the event in Greece and National Inter-State Championships respectively.
During the qualifying round, only Japan’s Yuki Hashioka (8.18m) and Marquis Dendy (8.16m) of USA crossed the 8.15m.

Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece (8.03m), world season leader Simon Ehammer of Switzerland (8.09m), and Cuba’s Maykel Masso (7.93m), who won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, were among those who advanced to the finals ahead of Sreeshankar.
Anju Bobby George was the first Indian to make it to the long jump finals and the first to win the medal.

This is the 18th edition of the World Championships and it is the first time that US is hosting the event.