Sreeshankar inspired by Neeraj Chopra’s talk and walk
Murali Sreeshankar has been on a high this season. Having bettered his own national record in April by leaping 8.36m, and consistently clearing the 8m mark, the 23-year-old believes he can contend for a medal at next month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon.
“I am optimistic of a medal chance there. If I get the rhythm right, I am confident of getting the big distance in,” he said in a media interaction on Tuesday. “Ideally, I’m looking to better my personal best. That’s the first priority. To do it at the world championships will be something.”
Sreeshankar shares the season’s second-best jump with Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou, behind Switzerland's Simon Ehammer’s world leading 8.45m.
Performing on the big stage though is an entirely different thing. Sreeshankar failed to qualify for the finals at the 2019 worlds in Doha and at the Tokyo Olympics, after not clearing 8m.
“I was not in my best shape in Tokyo, it was a disastrous performance and it took me a while to snap out of it,” he said. “It was the same with Doha. But they have made me a tougher person. I don't lose confidence easily now because I trust my abilities.”
The re-building process began the day he flopped in Tokyo. A pep talk by javelin ace Neeraj Chopra—they shared the room at the Games village—and hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh helped. “Neeraj bhaiya simply said, ‘bhai, I believe in you’ after my poor performance (7.69m). He said I have the world championships and 2024 Paris Olympics to look forward to.”
A week later, Chopra became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in athletics. Life has not been the same for the Olympic champion or for countless other athletes. "What Neeraj has achieved has transformed the way Indian athletes think. It has done wonders to our confidence.
“If you look at the performances of our long jumpers and triple jumpers, quite a lot of us are jumping over 8m and 17m. Earlier, such jumps were what we aspired for. Now, we do it routinely.”
Sreeshankar’s father-coach Murali has overhauled his training methods after Tokyo. His lifting patterns in the gym and his run-up were tweaked. A full body test revealed all key parameters were at the base level, so the work began from scratch.
By March, Sreeshankar was ready. He won the season-opening Indian Open jumps event in Thiruvanthapuram (8.17m), came seventh at the indoor world championships in Belgrade (7.92m) later that month, and did his personal best (8.36m). Then, in a quality field in Greece featuring indoor worlds silver medallist Thobias Montler and former U-20 European champion Jules Pommer, he won the International Jumping Meeting in Kallithea with a leap of 8.31m. It was an important step considering that Indian jumpers rarely touch 8m abroad. For instance, Jeswin Aldrin, who has the longest jump by an Indian (8.37m), failed to clear 8m in two meets in Italy and Spain last month.
Sreeshankar puts it down to acclimitisation. “A lot of times, it takes us a while to adjust to the weather. Then, food is a problem because not all of us are used to the continental diet. Muhammed Anees Yahiya did 8.04m at the Qosanov Memorial (in Almaty) recently, so with exposure, you will see better results.”
Sreeshankar was due to take part in Thursday’s Stockholm Diamond League, but had to pull out because his US visa interview for the world championships came up.
“It is disappointing, but world championships is the most high-priority event on the calendar, so no complaints. Plus, there is very little break between the worlds and the Commonwealth Games, so maybe missing Stockholm will give me some time to recover.”
Sreeshankar will leave for Chula Vista in California for training next week ahead of the world championships. “It will be great if all three of us (him, Jeswin and Anees) qualify for the final and push each other for a medal on July 16.”
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