World Athletics Championships: M Sreeshankar has positives to take away from Oregon to CWG

Kolkata: India's long jump prodigy Murali Sreeshankar didn't have the ideal end to his World Athletics Championships campaign in Oregon on Sunday. At least, that's what the buzz leading to his maiden appearance final suggested. After he qualified for the final on the opening day of the competition (Saturday morning) with exactly an 8m jump, the enthusiasm of a medal came from his season-best jump of 8.36 metre as he was second in the world leading jump of the season behind Switzerland's Simon Ehammer (8.45m).

The Sunday morning's final, however, saw him finish seventh with a 7.96m jump while his sequence of six jumps on the day read: 7.96, X, X, 7.89, X, 7.83. (X = foul jump). The result hurts more knowing that the gold-medal winning jump was similar to his season-best jump of 8.36m; leapt by China's Wang Jianan, ahead of Greece's Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.32m)  and Ehammer (8.16m).

While it may feel like an opportunity lost for the athlete, Worlds 2022 was still his best performance at a big ticket event, as far as the distance is concerned. His fourth spot finish (with a 7.84m jump) at the 2018 Asian Games, where he lost the bronze by a mere 0.01m, remains his best position-wise. But Oregon's 8m jump in qualification followed by 7.96m jump in the final was his best performance distance-wise.

Before the Worlds, his previous best at a major competition was 7.95m during the qualification round of the last Asiad.

Of course, Olympic champion Neeraj  Chopra's phenomenal performance in Tokyo last year was exemplary for the rest of the pack and brought the mass' attention to track and field. However, it has also added undue pressure on the athletes, who are expected to have a shot at a medal at a mere sniff of it.

The very fact that the 23-year-old young athlete, whose last major competition was the Tokyo Olympics last year and is yet to touch the 8.50m mark, became the very first Indian man to reach the Worlds final in itself deserves a lot of praise. The same is true for Avinash Sable, who is competing in the 3000m steeplechase final on Tuesday morning after finishing third in the heats. Competing in a game dominated by the Africans, Sable's rise on the world stage is commendable given he has next to no competition in the country to build upon in a season.

For Sreeshankar, it's not much difference either as his exposure to the top athletics events like Diamond Leagues is limited in comparison to his experienced rivals, who have a history of jumping 8.50m and beyond. At the national level as well, he found quality competition for the first time this season as Muhammed Anees Yahiya (career best of 8.15) and Jeswin Aldrin (8.37m, wind assisted) raised their game in domestic tournaments. The duo also made their debuts at the Worlds this year with qualification round exits; something that Shreeshankar also endured at his first appearance in the last edition in Doha.

Of course, one still gets to ask why somebody like Shreeshankar, who jumped 8.36m for a new national record during the Federation Cup in April, falters at the biggest of stages. The question is pertinent to other athletes in the country as well given very few of them matched or surpassed their season-best performances at the Worlds or Olympics. In the recent past, Sable, women's javelin thrower Annu Rani (at 2019 Worlds), and last but not least Neeraj has brought out their best at these global events.

Sreeshankar will have a chance to address those questions on the field himself very soon as he is slated to compete next month in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as one of the strong medal favourites. Hopefully, he has made peace with the fact that it wasn't his day and he will have his chances to redeem himself in the future.

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