India’s Murali Sreeshankar clinched the gold medal with his season’s best performance of 8.18m at the International Jumping Meeting 2023 in Greece on Wednesday.
Sreeshankar won the International Jumping Meeting last year as well with an effort of 8.31 m, which was better than this year’s attempt. Sreeshankar’s best jump at the Kallithea meet, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze label event, came in his sixth and final attempt.
This was Murali Sreeshankar’s third competition of the year, and this was also his third gold medal. He won the gold medal at the MVA High Performance Athletics Meet in Chula Vista, USA, in May with an effort of 8.29m, 0.07m short of his personal best. Earlier, he won the long jump event at the third Indian Grand Prix in March with a jump of 7.94m.
Since Murali Sreeshankar’s jump in Chula Vista was wind-assisted by +3.1 m/s, it did not help Sreeshankar make the cut for the World Athletics Championships 2023 to be held in Budapest in August. Jumps with over +2.0 m/s wind assistance are not logged as official records or qualifying timings in the long jump. The entry standard for the world championships is set at 8.25 metres.
However, M. Sreeshankar’s effort on Wednesday helped him make the cut for the Asian Games 2023, which is set at 7.95m by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the men’s long jump. Jeswin Aldrin claimed silver with an effort of 7.85 m. Aldrin warmed up with a jump of 7.81m and had his best jump on his second attempt. Jalen Rucker of Australia won bronze for a 7.80-metre effort in the 12-man field.
