Tejaswin Shankar beats former world champion at Boston
Tejaswin Shankar, a bronze medalist from the Commonwealth Games 2022, won the men's high jump competition at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 2023 in Boston, USA, on Saturday. He defeated the 38-year-old Bahamas native Donald Thomas, a world champion in 2007, who settled for second place.
Donald Thomas, a four-time Olympian, won the high jump title at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. There were just four competitors in the high jump competition at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. It included American Darryl Sullivan, who placed third with a season-best mark of 2.19m.
Shankar achieved leaps of 2.14 metres, 2.19 metres, 2.23 metres, and 2.26 metres all on his first attempt. In his last efforts, he attempted to set a new national indoor record of 2.30 metres but was unsuccessful. Tejaswin Shankar established the country's indoor high jump record in 2018 at 2.28 metres. Tejaswin Shankar also holds the high jump national record for men in India with a height of 2.29 metres.
At Birmingham 2022, Tejaswin Shankar, 24, won bronze in the men's high jump with a leap of 2.22 metres, earning India its first medal at the Commonwealth Games.
🇮🇳's NR holder in High Jump, CWG medalist & TOPS Athlete @TejaswinShankar wins 🥇at the Indoor Grand Prix with a winning height of 2.26m.
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) February 5, 2023
A great start to the season for TJ. Congratulations 🥳 pic.twitter.com/TnqhbQewEC