Jeswin Aldrin broke the national record with his jump© Twitter
Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin hogged the limelight with a national record in men’s long jump in the second AFI National Jumps Competition near here on Thursday. The 21-year-old leapt 8.42 metres to erase the the previous mark of 8.36 metres set by India teammate M Sreeshankar at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode in April last year. Aldrin, who had won silver at the Asian Indoor Championships in Astana last month with a 7.97-metre effort, made the most of being in a competitive frame to break the national record. Aldrin had leapt 8.37 metres in Kozhikode last year to win gold but since his jump was wind aided, it wasn’t considered a national record by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Sreeshankar, who bagged silver at the meet with a jump of 8.36m, made the national record his own as it came with a legal tailwind.
A measure of Aldrin’s dominance on Thursday can be had from the fact he was the only competitor to cross the eight-metre mark.
He opened with 8.05m and followed it up with 8.26 before finding the power and speed to get to 8.42m. Kerala’s Muhammed Anees Yahiya was a distant second at 7.85 metres.
“The national record has been a while coming and I am happy it has come at a venue where I have been training. It is the result of hard work turned in here over the last few years,” said Aldrin.
“I now want to produce this kind of performance at the global level.” Gayathry Sivakumar set the women’s triple jump meet record with a hop, step and jump over 12.98 metres to break the 12.68m mark set by Aleena Jose in the inaugural edition in Thiruvananthapuram last year.
She had only two valid jumps in six attempts, but both were good enough for gold. She opened with a 12.46m and got the record in her third attempt.
Tamil Nadu’s R Punitha edged out Maharashtra’s Sharvari Parulekar for silver in the event with a jump of 12.39 metres.
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