WATCH | Murali Sreeshankar qualifies for Paris Olympics with mammoth jump
India's Murali Sreeshankar has been in decent form this year and is one of the top long jumpers this year. At the Asian Athletics Championship 2023, not only did he bag a silver medal with a jump of 8.37m but also made the cut for the Paris Olympics, where the cut was set at 8.27m.
Meanwhile, Yu Tang Lin of Chinese Taipei clinched gold with a jump of 8.40m (+0.3), with Sreeshankar getting the silver at 8.37m (-1.1). China's Mingkun Zhang finished third with a jump of 8.08m. Not just that, the Indian jumper had five jumps of over 8m which is a rare sight.
That also makes him the first track & field athlete to qualify for the Olympics. Prior to this, Sreeshankar had already qualified for the Budapest World Championships in August with his career-best and world-second-ranked jump of 8.41m during the qualification round of the National Inter-State Championships last month.
Not only that, Sreeshankar had also bagged a historic bronze at Paris Diamond League with a best jump of 8.09m.
Athletics, #AsianAthleticsChampionships: MURALI SREESHANKAR.. YOU BEAUTY.. ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMANCE BY THE INDIAN LONG JUMPER EVER! FIRST INDIAN FIELD EVENT ATHLETE TO QUALIFY FOR #Paris2024 WITH A HUMONGOUS LEAP OF 8.37M (-1.1 M/S)
— Vishank Razdan (@VishankRazdan) July 15, 2023
SILVER 🥈 FOR HIM..
🥈🇮🇳❤️@SreeshankarM pic.twitter.com/olszXLWgOK