Aishwarya Babu had announced her intent at the National Inter-State Athletics meet on Sunday. The 24-year-old, who stands just over five-feet tall became only the second Indian after Anju Bobby George to cross the 6.70m mark in the long jump event. A day later though, on Monday, in her pet triple jump event, she shattered an 11-year-old national record.
Aishwarya jumped a solid 14.14m to break the national record Mayookha Johny had set in 2011, winning gold at the ongoing meet in Chennai.
But the Karnataka youngster is still not done, as she’s still to compete in the final of the long jump event, which takes place on Tuesday.
Over the weekend, she jumped an impressive 6.73m in the long jump qualification round – the best for a jumper on Indian soil since 2005. Anju still holds the record of 6.83m.
And this came in a field that included U-20 World Championship silver medallist Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan, who was the season’s best jumper till Aishwarya’s effort.
In the triple jump final, Aishwarya started with a 13.84m attempt before slowing down a tad in her second attempt – reaching 13.16m. But she launched past the national mark in her third attempt.
This was better than second placed Haryana athlete Renu’s 13.43m and Andhra Pradesh’s Karthika Gothandapani, who jumped 13.25m.
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