Tejaswin Shankar wins decathlon silver in US, misses national record by a whisker

PTI, Apr 8, 2023, 5:19 PM IST

Image source: Team India via ANI / File

New Delhi: Commonwealth Games medallist high jumper Tejaswin Shankar bagged a decathlon silver and came close to breaking the national record at the Jim Click Shootout competition in Arizona, USA.

Tejaswin, who won the high jump bronze in the 2022 CWG in Birmingham, competed in the gruelling 10-event decathlon and scored a cumulative 7,648 points — 10 less than Bharatinder Singh’s national record of 7,658 set in 2011.

The competition was held at the University of Arizona’s Tucson campus and is recognised by United States Track and Field (USTAF). Till Steinforth of Nebraska stood first with 7,845 points after two days of gruelling competition over the 10 events.

The 24-year-old Tejaswin, who is currently working in the US after completing college at the Kansas State University, competed as an unattached athlete. He won high jump (2.19m) and 400m race (48.41 sec). The other eight events are 100m race, long jump, shot put, 110m hurdles race, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500m race. Though he missed the national record by a whisker, his 7,648 points breached the Asian Games standard of 7,500 set by the Athletics Federation of India.

The Delhi boy had recently started competing in decathlon, and he had expressed his desire to represent the country in the event in the upcoming Asian Games.