National Interstate Athletics Championships: Murali Sreeshankar erases meeting record in long jump, distance runners disappoint

On the opening day of the National Interstate Athletics Championships in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on Friday, the men’s long jump event was in the spotlight.

The preliminary round of this event witnessed Olympian and national record holder Murali Sreeshankar erase the meeting record of 8m by recording a jump of 8.01m.

Sreeshankar’s season best is 8.37m. The men’s final is expected to be more competitive as Jeswin Aldrin and Mohammed Anees - the other two leading competitors - have made it to the 12-men field for the final.

Tamil Nadu’s Baranica Elangovan also broke the previous meeting record in the women’s pole vault marginally by scaling a height of 4.05m. The previous record was 4m. However, Baranica is far off the Birmingham Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 4.50m.

National Interstate Athletics Championships: Field events

Hima Das is competing in the 100m category

As expected, competitors in the men and women’s 10,000m race couldn’t achieve the tough Commonwealth Games qualification time.

Abhishek Pal won the men’s 10,000m race with a time of 29:55.51 which was nearly two-and-a-half minutes slower than the Birmingham Commonwealth Games qualifying time.

Sanjivani Jadhav was the winner of the women’s 25-lap race. She clocked 33:16.43, while 31:00 was the Commonwealth Games qualification time for the women’s 10,000m event.

In the women’s 100m preliminary rounds, Odisha star sprinter Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda emerged as the fastest runners. Dutee clocked 11.40 seconds as compared to Srabani’s time of 11.49 seconds.

The 2018 Jakarta Asian Games silver medalist in 400m, Hima Das, competed in women’s 100m. She clocked 11.54.

The women’s 400m qualification round too went on the expected lines as Rupal Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh and Priya Mohan of Karnataka dominated their respective heats.

National Interstate Athletics Championships: Results from finals on opening day

Men: 10,000m: 1. Abhishek Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 29:55.51; 2. Gulveer Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 29:55.71; 3. Dharmender (Rajasthan) 29:55.84.

Women: 10,000m: 1. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav (Maharashtra) 33:16.43; 2. Prajakta Godbole (Maharashtra) 33:59.34; 3. Kavita Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 35:00.33.

Pole vault: 1. Baranica Elangovan (Tamil Nadu) 4.05m (New Meet Record. Old: 4.00m, Khyati Vakharia, Guwahati, 2018); 2. Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) 4.00m; 3. Pavithra Venkatesh (Tamil Nadu) 3.90m.