Long Jumper Jeswin Aldrin to participate at the World Athletics Championships 2022
Jeswin Aldrin, an Indian long jumper, has been named to the Indian team for the World Athletics Championships 2022, which begins on Friday in Oregon, USA. With an 8.26m jump at the Federation Cup in April, he qualified for Oregon 22, but went into a slump, failing to clear the eight-meter mark.
As a result, he was thus omitted from the Indian squad for the world championships and the Commonwealth Games in 2022. After being passed over for the biannual event, Aldrin was given another opportunity after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) invited him to selection trials on July 4 in Thiruvananthapuram and subsequently on July 8 in Patiala.
Despite failing to meet the AFI's "near to 8.10m" selection standard in the two trials, Aldrin delivered his best performance since the Federation Cup, leaping 7.99m in Thiruvananthapuram and then 7.93m in Patiala to instill confidence in the selectors. “AFI today decided, in consultation with the members of the selection committee, to include long jumper Jeswin Aldrin in the squad for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, after he jumped close to 8.00m in the trials held at NIS Patiala on Friday,” the AFI said in a statement.
Aldrin will now compete in his first world championships at Oregon22. The long jump event is set for the tournament's first day, July 15. Aishwarya Mishra, a quarter-miler, also competed in the two trials but could not qualify for the world championships with times of 53.15s and 53.80s, respectively. Her two 400m times this season were her slowest.
Meanwhile, Dhanalakshmi Sekar, an ace Indian runner, may struggle to make it to the global championships since her visa processes have still to be completed. Sekar has so far been outstanding this season. The Tokyo Olympian set a lifetime best time of 22.89 seconds to win 200m gold in Kazakhstan last month, becoming only the third Indian woman to sprint under 23 seconds. She qualified for the world championships based on global rankings.
Sekar has also been named to India's squad for the Commonwealth Games 2022, which will be held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, from July 28 to August 8.
