Tejaswin Shankar beats Olympic medalist Shelby Mcewen at his home to clinch high jump title

Tejaswin Shankar defeated the Paris Olympic Silver medalist Shelby Mcewen to clinch the World Athletics Bronze Meet, DeLoss Dodds Invitational, in Manhattan, Kansas (USA) on Friday.

Shankar had a brilliant outing, clearing all the marks in the first attempt till 2.26m, to edge past home favourite Shelby, who settled for second at 2.22m after failing his all three attempts at 2.26m.

This was Shankar's best attempt since February 2023, when he clinched another indoor High Jump title in Boston, with the same mark of 2.26m.

He tried to improve his own high jump national record of 2.29m, but failed to convert his three attempts at 2.30m, after confirming his gold medal at the event.

This was the first tournament of the year in high jump for the multiple national record holder, who will be happy with this brilliant start, chasing a qualification of World Indoor C'ships.

This will also be a good confidence booster for the Asian Games medalist, ahead of the important Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, China, next week.

On the other hand, Pavana Nagaraj, who broke the Indoor National record earlier this month, finished 5th in women's high jump with the best of 6.26m.

Although she fell short of her personal best (6.47m), will earn crucial ranking points for the qualification of the World Indoor C'ships, to be taken place in Poland in March 2026.