Happier with my 8.09m in Paris than the 8.41 in Bhubaneswar, says long jumper Sreeshankar

According to the World Athletics’ scoring table, Sreeshankar’s 8.41m long jump at the recent Inter-State Nationals in Bhubaneswar is equal to a 9.94s time in the 100m

With long jump at the recent Diamond League happening late at night, M. Sreeshankar missed watching Simon Ehammer make Swiss history in Oslo but he had a close look at the action on Instagram the next morning.

Sreeshankar, the World No. 8, had to skip Oslo — where Ehammer became the first Swiss male to win a Diamond League title — as he had to be in Bhubaneswar for the inter-State Nationals that began the same day, June 15.

The Athletics Federation of India exempted only two athletes, Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and Commonwealth Games silver medallist steeple chaser Avinash Sable, from competing in Bhubaneswar.

Only a week before Bhubaneswar, Sreeshankar made history when he became the first Indian long jumper and the third athlete from the country to win a Diamond League medal, with a third place finish in Paris behind Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and Ehammer.

Sreeshankar did not grumble or groan about the Oslo miss but made it clear how precious the Paris Diamond League finish was to him.

“I’m happier with my 8.09m in Paris than the 8.41m here (in Bhubaneswar),” said the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, in a chat with The Hindu. Incidentally, India has the world’s top two long jumpers this year with inter-State Nationals’ gold medallist Sreeshankar’s 8.41m, which came in the qualification round, being the second-best long jump in the world this year. It was just a centimetre behind 2023 world leader Jeswin Aldrin’s 8.42m which came in Ballari in March (Jeswin took the silver in Bhubaneswar with 7.98m).

“According to dad, technique-wise 8.41 was the best one I had in my life. Everything was perfect. I was very good in the approach. Was in proper sync. I took it easy that day and due to humid conditions, we changed our warm-up strategy,” said Sreeshankar.