Athletics
I want to participate in High Jump at Worlds and Olympics: Tejaswin Shankar
Bronze medal winner Decathlete at Asian Athletics, Tejaswin Shankar will also participate in high jump.
Tejaswin Shankar in action during Decathlon high jump at Asian Athletics Championships 2023. (Source: AAC 2023)
After winning his first international decathlon medal, Tejaswin Shankar said that he is not leaving the high jump shortly and will look to compete in the event at the Olympics and World Championships.
Tejaswin, who won a bronze medal in Decathlon at Asian Athletics Championships made it clear that is not moving away from his 'bread and butter event' any time soon. He will be part of the high jump event as well on Saturday.
Tejaswin is still in the frame for the Budapest World Championships in August as he is currently at the 31st spot (out of 36 to compete) in world rankings.
Besides those who automatically make the cut by achieving a qualifying mark, athletes can also enter the showpiece through world ranking points.
Talking after winning his bronze medal win, Tejaswin said, "I was unable to cross 2.30m in the high jump which brought stagnation and I wanted to do something new. That is why I took up decathlon."
"At the Asian level (Asian Championships and Asian Games), I want to go ahead with decathlon but the High jump is my bread and butter event. I want to qualify in the high jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics," he added further.
Tejaswin has won an international medal in the high jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and is the current national record holder in the event.
Featuring in his first-ever International decathlon, Tejaswin scored a total of 7527 points to win the bronze medal. He recorded two personal bests during the competition in Discus Throw and Javelin Throw.
"This was my highest Day 2 score, and we have to understand that I am a very strong Day 1 athlete. Despite losing close to 100–200 points on Day 1, I was still able to improve my Day 2 score. So, it's all about getting the scores up on Day 1 now, and we have enough preparation time before the Asian Games," he said.
This was the fourth decathlon for Tejaswin in his short career as a decathlete. He had won gold with 7576 points in the National Inter-State Championships last month and breached the Asian Games qualifying mark of 7500.
