World Athletics C'Ships: Murali Sreeshankar 'gutted, disappointed' after heartbreaking qualifying round exit

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has had a disappointing campaign at the World Athletics Championships 2023, as he made an 'unexpected' exit from the qualifying event at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.

Sreeshankar, who entered the Worlds with the season's second-best jump of 8.41m behind fellow countryman Jeswin Aldrin, failed to make a cut in the final after he produced a below-par leap of 7.74m and finished at the 22nd position. In his other two attempts, Sreeshankar jumped 7.66m, while his final attempt was 6.70m.

A heartbroken Sreeshankar, who achieved the personal best leap of 8.41 at the Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar in June, took to social media to express his feelings. The 24-year-old also produced an 8.09m leap to achieve a third-place finish at the Paris Diamond League in June.

Sreeshankar vows to bounce back

"Gutted, disappointed and unexpected! But so is sport and so is life. No reasons or excuses!" the athlete from Kerala wrote.

"But just matter of time I am gonna bounce back from this," the Commonwealth Games 2022 and Asian Athletics Championships 2023 silver medallist added.

Sreeshankar also heaped praise on 21-year-old Aldrin's for making it to the final.

"Big shoutout to @AldrinJeswin for making to the finals. Let’s go boyyy," Sreeshankar further wrote.

Aldrin, the man with the longest jump in 2023 till Wednesday, qualified for the medal round as the 12th man, the last spot in the qualifying event, with an 8m jump. Aldrin's 8.42m at Ballery was the season's best jump before Jamaica's Wayne Pinnock shattered it with a massive 8.54 metres jump in Round One of qualifying.