Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth in the Lausanne Diamond League, which was contested on Friday, 30 June, in Switzerland. The 24-year-old attained the position with a 7.88m jump, coming in his third attempt.
Sreeshankar arrived in Lausanne with form being on his side, having recently registered his personal best jump of 8.41m at the Interstate Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar. Previously, he had also won the gold medal at the MVA High-Performance Athletics Meet in California, with an 8.29m jump.
Albeit, in the Lausanne leg of the 2023 Diamond League, he could not replicate his recent results, not breaching the 8-metre mark in any of his six attempts.
His endeavour on Friday started with a 7.75m jump, which saw Sreeshankar occupying third position after the first round, behind only Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou and Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer.
The second jump of 7.63m, however, saw Sreeshankar getting demoted to the fifth position, with both Croatia’s Filip Pravdica and Bahamas’ LaQuan Nairn improving on their initial attempts.
Sreeshankar’s best attempt came in the fourth round, wherein he recorded a 7.88m jump, toppling Pravdica. However, with Japan’s Yuki Hashioka recording 7.98m, the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist remained in the fifth position.
The Kerala-born athlete could not improve any further, recording 7.59m, 7.66m and 7.42m jumps in his last three attempts. The leaderboard remained unaltered during this while, with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nairn topping the charts, closely followed by Tentoglou, with the pair being the only ones to go north of 8m. With a 7.98m jump, Hashioka finished second.
Lausanne Diamond League 2023: Men's Long Jump Leaderboard
1 – LaQuan Nairn (8.11m)
2 – Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.07m)
3 – Yuki Hashioka (7.98m)
4 – Simon Ehammer (7.97m)
5 – Murali Sreeshankar (7.88m)
6 – Filip Pravdica (7.83m)
7 – Cheswill Johnson (7.78m)
8 – Thobias Montler (7.75m)
9 – Mattia Furlani (7.73m)
Sreeshankar Takes Season’s Tally to Double Figures
This performance helped Sreeshankar accumulate four points, taking his Diamond League 2023 tally to 10 points. Tentoglou is currently occupying first place with 21 points, with Ehammer being second with 20 points.
Notably, with the Inter-State competition taking place simultaneously, Sreeshankar had to miss out on the Oslo leg of the Diamond League – ultimately costing him a few crucial points. However, he still is a part of the top three, and comfortably positioned in the race to qualify for the finals.
Before the final in Zurich, the last men's long jump event of the season will take place at the Zurich Diamond League, which is scheduled to be held on 31 August.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)