Aishwarya Babu sets new Triple Jump National Record; goes past CWG qualifying standard

The 24-year-old Indian triple jumper, Aishwarya Babu, on Monday, set a new national record in women's triple jump. The 24-year-old from Karnataka leapt a massive distance of 14.14m at the ongoing National Inter State Athletics Meet.

Aishwarya went past Mayookha Johny's 11-year-old record of 14.11m by a mere 0.03m in Chennai. With this attempt Aishwarya also went past the 2022 Commonwealth Games qualifying standards which was set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) at 13.70m. She had previously went past this mark in March earlier this year.

"Certainly, I expected to break the National Record. This is something for which I have been practicing for long," said Aishwarya in a media interaction post her event.

Aishwarya is physically not as taller or bulky built as a triple jump athlete usually is. So how does she manage to jump such long distance?

"My speed and the explosive power," she states. "Until September last year by best in triple jump was 13.55m. I have improved significantly and a lot of it has to do with the increase in power and my speed."

She had earlier taken the athletics fans in the country by surprise when she leapt a massive distance of 6.73m in women's long jump qualifying round on Sunday. This was the best-ever jump by an Indian woman other than the legendary Anju Bobby George.

"I was preparing for triple jump only. Long jump is my side event, triple jump is main. I will surely try my best to break the long jump national record tomorrow," Aishwarya exclaims.

But how does she manage to balance both?

"I don't practice long jump a lot. I do it just for one or two days before if I am going to compete somewhere," she says.