For high jump sensation Tejaswin Shankar, Saturday’s Big 12 tournament at Ames, Iowa was merely another meet. Another day, another record for the prodigal 19-year-old jumper.
As he beat his own national record of 2.26 metres that he had set in 2016, Tejaswin grabbed the bronze at the event. Imagine that - breaking your national record and still coming third at a domestic meet.
The irony of his situation was not lost on Tejaswin. He would tweet later, “So funny that even after jumping 2.28m I finish 3rd.”
However, Tejaswin isn’t satisfied with merely being a national record holder as he continues on his path to becoming India’s most well-rounded athlete.
The high jumper who has had his fair share of injuries says that he was previously limited in his choice of events as a precautionary measure, “I know for a fact that I can do other events too but when I was home no one really allowed me to do anything else as an injury precaution.”
Formerly New Delhi-based, the fast bowler-turned-athlete won an athletics scholarship to Kansas State University, thus getting to compete on the prestigious K-State Track team, coached by Cliff Rovelto, who was honoured as Coach of the Year by the Big 12 Conference in 2017.
It was Tejaswin who convinced Rovelto to let him expand his repertoire after initially being selected on the basis of his high jump merit. “But after coming here I told coach that I really want to try my hand at other events and have fun. He understood my point of view and we trained for it.”
Among the events that Tejaswin has participated at indoor meets this year are relays - both men’s and the mixed 4 X 400 metres - as well as the long jump and the triple jump.
At the Commonwealth Games, the man to watch out for will be the reigning champion Derek Drouin, also the 2016 Rio champion and World Champion in 2015. In the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, the Canadian jumped 2.31 metres which was enough for him to win gold.
Tejaswin’s mark of 2.28 metres would have been enough for him to win a silver medal in Glasgow and Drouin, his main competitor, is someone the Indian clearly has a lot of respect for. “Surprisingly, the Olympic and world champion Derek Drouin from Canada can jump over 7 meters, run the 60 hurdles under 8 seconds, throw the shot over 13 meters. I mean if he can do it then it’s doable,” he says while adding that Drouin has a great heptathlon (indoors) score as well.
This season, Tejaswin has clocked 7.40 metres in the long jump at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational at Manhattan, Kansas, coming second. His best timing in the relay for the year is 3:20.36. He states that he would start participating in the outdoor high jump next season, “So my coach here came up with this plan that I can do other events indoors for fun and do high jump outdoors from next year onwards.”
As the India-bound Tejaswin gears up for the Federation Cup, he must clear the Athletics Federation of India’s set criteria of 2.25 metres in Patiala. Despite already having cleared the height, a new rule by AFI states that an athlete must attend trials in India before major inter-continental meets.
He isn’t fazed and instead hopes to increase his overall growth as a track-and-field athlete. “This way I won’t be bored of one event, being young it will contribute towards my overall development as an athlete, it will fulfil my bizarre wish of doing other events. Well I think if I train regularly, I can long and triple jump quite far. I will try it out this season outdoors.”
Not only is Tejaswin consistently raising the bar, it seems that the K-state athlete is no longer satisfied with merely being an accomplished high jumper but an athlete, capable of doing almost anything.
At 19, it’s safe to say that Tejaswin has plenty of time.
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