TN’s Jeswin breaks long jump NR with 8.42m effort

BANNIHATTI (KARNATAKA): 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 Jeswin leapt 8.42 metres to erase the previous mark of 8.36 metres, which was set by India teammate M Sreeshankar at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode in April last year. Jeswin, who had won a silver medal 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 near year-long national record.

Jeswin had leapt 8.37 metres in Kozhikode last year to win gold but since his jump was wind aided, it was not considered a national record by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). A measure of Jeswin’s dominance on Thursday can be seen from the fact that he was the only competitor to cross the eight-metre mark.

He opened with 8.05m and followed it up with 8.26m 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 coming for a while and I am happy that it has come at a venue where I have been training (at Inspire Institute of Sport). It is the result of the hard work put in here over the last few years,” said Aldrin.

RESULT: Men: Long Jump: 1. Jeswin Aldrin (TN) 8.42m; 2. Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Ker) 7.85m; 3. Rishabh Rishishwar (UP) 7.77m