Athletics World Championships: Aldrin gives India reason to cheer, Sreeshankar exits

Budapest, August 23

National record holder Jeswin Aldrin qualified for his maiden World Championships final but fellow competitor Murali Sreeshankar made a shock exit in the qualification round of the long jump after his worst performance of the season here today.

Javelin thrower Annu Rani, also a national record holder but struggling for form lately, produced her second-worst performance of the season with a 57.05 metres effort to crash out in the qualification round after finishing 11th in Group A and 19th overall.

The 21-year-old Aldrin, who entered the showpiece as the season leader with his 8.42m national record effort in March, cleared 8m in his first attempt and fouled his next two jumps. But that was sufficient for him to make it to the 12-man final to be held tomorrow. Those who cleared the automatic qualification distance of 8.15m or the top 12 from the two qualification groups made it to the final.

Aldrin, who finished sixth in Group B qualification round, was the 12th best performer overall and made it to the final as the last qualifier.

He became the second Indian male long jumper to qualify for the final in the showpiece after Sreeshankar, who had finished seventh in the 2022 championships.

The 24-year-old Sreeshankar had a disappointing series of 7.74m, 7.66m and 6.70m as he finished 12th in Group A qualification round and 22nd overall. — PTI

Showman Tamberi turns showstopper

Italy’s Olympics champion and showman Gianmarco Tamberi captured the world high jump title on Tuesday, in a dramatic finish against young American JuVaughn Harrison. Tamberi, who famously shared the Olympics title with three-time world champion Mutaz Barshim of Qatar, cleared a world-leading 2.36 metres for gold.

Faith in herself: Kipyegon claims 1,500m

Kenyan middle-distance superstar Faith Kipyegon capped a year that brought her a trio of world records by claiming a hat-trick of world 1,500 metres gold medals as she ran a perfect race to come home in 3 minutes and 54.87 seconds in Tuesday’s final. Kipyegon, the double Olympics champion, has not lost over the distance for two years. agencies