National Games
'Will go home for vacation'- Long Jumper Jeswin Aldrin after qualifying for 2023 World Championships
Jeswin Aldrin of Tamil Nadu had come into the National Games with the aim of qualifying for the Worlds. With an 8.26m jump, he did just that.
Jeswin Aldrin
Long jumper Jeswin Aldrin crossed the 8.22 qualification mark for the 2023 World Athletics Championships with an 8.26m jump at the National Games 2022 on Saturday. With this massive effort, he won the gold as well.
The silver and bronze medals were clinched by Murali Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees Yahiya respectively in the men's long jump event.
It has been a rollercoaster of a year for Tamil Nadu's Jeswin. Missing out on the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games can take a toll on anyone. The 20-year-old jumper is no different.
"The season started well but after missing out on the world championships and commonwealth games, I was depressed. I just wanted to end my season well," Aldrin said post his gold-winning jump.
Last month, Aldrin won the long jump event at the Golden Fly Series Liechtenstein 2022 where he leaped a distance of 8.12m, the only athlete to cross the 8m-mark on the day. Now, it is time to take some much-deserved time off for the youngster.
"I can be a bit relaxed now and I don't want to put more pressure on myself. I'm going home for 20 days, and after that I'll start my off-season," he said.
Another face of Indian long jump who is a tad bit more experienced than Jeswin is Sreeshankar. Unfortunately, the Kerala lad couldn't continue after his second attempt due to an injury, but his 7.93 jump was enough to earn him the silver.
"Coming into this event I was feeling really good. My plan was same as Jeswin's, to come in and get that qualification. Unfortunately I couldn't do that. Hopefully, next season I can qualify for the worlds through the first few events," Murali said.
