Sreeshankar jumps to new high, ends third in Diamond League

Paris, June 10

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India’s ace long jumper Murali Sreeshankar secured a creditable third place in the Paris Diamond League with a jump of 8.09 metres, his maiden top-three finish in the prestigious one-day meet series.

Sreeshankar also became the only third Indian to finish in the top-three of a Diamond League after Olympics champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and former discus thrower Vikas Gowda.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sreeshankar achieved his best jump of the day in his third attempt on Friday night.

His 8.09m effort was below his season’s best of 8.18m, which he recorded while winning gold in an event in Greece last month. The 24-year-old has a personal best of 8.36m that came last year.

The competitors in the men’s long jump event faced headwind most of the time.

Olympics champion and world No. 1 Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece took the top spot with his fifth-round jump of 8.13m, just 4cm better than Sreeshankar.

Switzerland’s World Championships bronze medallist Simon Ehammer finished second with his fourth-round jump of 8.11m.