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Less recovery time and tough weather conditions hindered my jump: Sreeshankar

Murali Sreeshankar said that tough weather conditions in Lausanne and less recovery time affected his performance in Diamond League.

Less recovery time and tough weather conditions hindered my jump: Sreeshankar
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Murali Sreeshankar

By

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 4 July 2023 9:13 AM GMT

Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth at the Lausanne Diamond League, registering a sub-par jump of 7.88m on Sunday. This was also his worst performance of the season.

Sreeshankar attributed the poor show to the adverse weather conditions and lack of recovery time after competing in the National Inter-State last month.

The conditions in Lausanne meant that none of the long jumpers could register a big jump, with LaQuan Nairn of Bahamas winning with a jump of 8.11m.

"The conditions were not that favorable in Lausanne. It was cold, windy, and drizzling. There were two contrasting weather conditions, one very hot and humid (in Bhubaneswar) and the other very cold and windy (in Lausanne)," Sreeshankar told PTI.

"Because of weather conditions, I was not able to get my approach right; all my take-offs were 30 to 40 centimeters behind the board; I was not able to get my feet properly while taking off; that was the main issue," he added further.

He said he was not looking for a big jump or personal best but to be in the top three and get valuable Diamond League points.

Sreeshankar, who trains at Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary, is the second leading long jumper this season after his personal best effort of 8.41m at the qualification round of the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar (June 15-19).

"I was expecting something like 8.10m if the conditions were favorable. But I could not do that as 10 days back I had two rounds (qualification and final) of competitions in the National Inter-State (no time left for recovery)," Sreeshankar said.

Although the main learning for Sreeshankar for Lausanne will be to have proper recovery time after any competition.

"I was nowhere close to my rhythm in Lausanne, but getting used to these competitive drills and adapting to different conditions, however harsh they may be, is very important," said Murali.

Giving an example of how important adjusting to conditions is, he said, "You need more and more quality competitions to get adjusted to different conditions and get to your rhythm.

"A jump starts and ends in six seconds, and I take 19 strides towards my approach. There can be big changes if either of my strides goes up and down by 5 or 10cm. If there is a change of even 5cm, it will have a big cumulative effect. All these depend mainly on conditions," explained Sreeshankar.

Sreeshankar is in the 54-member Indian team for the July 12-16 Asian Championships in Thailand, and after that, he will not compete in any event till the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary (August 19-27).

After Asian Championships, Sreeshankar will have a five-week gap for the World Championships which will need a solid training regime.

(With PTI inputs)

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