Jeswin Aldrin braced for fresh long jump duels with M Sreeshankar

When Jeswin Aldrin stood at the top of his mark in Kozhikode's CH Muhammed Koya Stadium on Sunday, to begin the run for the first of his five 8m-plus jumps at the Federation Cup, he was confident of erasing the national record of 8.26m. The back pain with which he woke up due to lack of sleep was gone; the weather was good for jumps, and the 20-year-old from Mudalur village in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district was ready to roll.   

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Five jumps over 8 m followed. The second - 8.37m -  should have rewritten the national mark. Problem was, it had come with a tailwind of over 4 metres/second, double the permissible limit (2 m/s). Kerala’s Murali Sreeshankar, whose mark of 8.26 m was briefly threatened, responded with a 8.36 m to better his year-old record. Aldrin walked away with a win that felt more like a consolation prize while second-placed Sreeshankar’s new record glittered more. 

“It was disappointing. Owning the national record has been a dream three years in the making, since the time I began to take the sport seriously. I was really confident of breaking it, especially after my recent performance,” he said. 

Aldrin had stormed into the 8m-plus club barely a month earlier by jumping 8.20m at the Indian Grand Prix I in Thiruvananthapuram. He had also consistently recorded jumps of 8.30 m in training, and coming into the Federation Cup, Aldrin had set himself a target of “8.40 to 8.50 m”. 

“I know that is achievable. It is well within my grasp. I had thought of breaking the national record on my second or third jump, then pushing harder. I am very happy at 8.37m, but missing the record due to tailwind was disappointing. The dream lives on though,” he said from Kozhikode.   

Aldrin though knows clearing 8.37m would have helped win bronze at last year's Tokyo Olympics, and silver at Rio in 2016. “Murali and I recorded world-class results. That our jumps would have been good enough for Olympic medals is heartening,” he said. 

The youngster’s success is neither sudden nor entirely unexpected. Last year, he jumped 7.97m at the South Zone U-20 meet and followed it up with a gold-winning jump of 7.81m at the inaugural U-23 competition in New Delhi at 7.81m.  Aldrin though suffered a groin strain in Delhi that troubled him for a few months, affecting his training.   

His recovery coincided with commencing training under former Cuban triple jump ace Yoandri Betanzos at the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS). A change in training programme followed and Aldrin began jumping closer to 8m with more regularity. Before his Thiruvananthapuram effort last month, his best out-of-competition effort was 7.90m; touching 8.20m in the competition came as a big boost.   

“My performance at the Indian Grand Prix I gave me a lot of confidence. It gave me the belief that I can go 8.40 or 8.50 and one day break the national record. Having said that, this is not a result of just 6-8 months of training; it is the culmination of my learnings and experiences of over three years.”   

Among the most fundamental changes that Betanzos, a two-time world silver medallist, brought about was to switch to jump-specific workouts.   

“It is a very refreshing approach,” said Aldrin. “Besides working on my jumping technique, he worked to enhance my speed and strength. I was growing well under Antony Yaich, the previous coach, too, but I felt I was lacking in speed and strength, and I didn't want to repeat my mistakes.” 

While a big part of Aldrin’s training is still focused on fine-tuning his jumping technique, he devotes more time to weight training to build power. “We do a lot of dry runs, a lot of weight training, and jump-related workouts using weights. I feel more power in my jumps now having worked on my upper body and core,” Aldrin explained.   

He was also prone to “double landing” where the jumper fails to land with both feet together. It causes to lose distance as it is measured from where the trailing foot lands. “It is important to land with feet together. Betanzos addressed it with specific drills,” informs Aldrin. 

Coach Betanzos credits his ward’s mental strength for rapid improvement. “He has a very strong mind and is able to catch minor adjustments in technique very well. Our first goal was to clear 8m regularly, which is now achieved. We will now put more emphasis on some of his technical details and focus on our next targets, which are to put in strong performances at the world championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games,” the 40-year-old said in a statement.   

Having achieved the qualifying marks for CWG (8.0m) and Asian Games (7.98 m), Aldrin will take a week’s break before resuming his next training cycle. “My next target is the national inter-state (at Chennai in June). Then there are the world championships, CWG, Asiad. This is a big year for athletics and I would love to not just break the national record, but do well at these world events,” Aldrin added.

The youngster is also excited at his budding rivalry with Sreeshankar. The Federation Cup was the first instance when they went head-to-head. Aldrin didn't participate in the Indian Open jumps competition where Sreeshankar and his Kerala teammate Muhammed Anees Yahiya went toe to toe. Sreesankar cleared 8.14m, and 8.17m after his rival jumped a personal best 8.15m. Sreeshankar opted out of the India GP I to prepare for the world indoors in Belgrade.   

At the Federation Cup, Aldrin, Sreeshankar and Anees had nine 8m-plus jumps between them - Aldrin (5) and Sreeshankar (3) featuring in eight. The rivalry and results, Aldrin reckons, bodes well for Indian athletics.   

“I know a lot of people were looking forward to my duel with Sree, and I am glad athletics is generating that kind of interest. We are good friends off the field and we like to push each other. With the three of us going past 8m regularly, it will remove the mental block among youngsters,” Aldrin said.

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