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| Name | Murali Sreeshankar |
| Born | March 27, 1999 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Role | Men's long jump |
Murali Sreeshankar is an Indian track and field athlete born on 27th March 1999. He hails from the Palakkad district of Kerala. He represents India internationally in the Long Jump. In 2021, he set the national record in the long jump with a distance of 8.26 meters.
M. Sreeshankar was born to S. Murali and K.S. Bijimol. Both his parents were medalists in athletics. His father was a Silver-Medalist in the triple jump at the South Asian Games and his mother was an 800 meters Silver-Medalist at the 1992 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. Sreeshankar has a sister Sreeparvathy who is a heptathlete.
Sreeshankar was encouraged to take up athletics by his parents. Initially, he did 50 meters and 100 meters running and was a state-level U-10 champion in these two athletic events. At the behest of his father, Murali, he switched to long jump at the age of 13. Since then, he has been groomed and guided by his father.
Sreeshankar is a B.Sc Mathematics graduate of Government Victoria College in Palakkad. He is supported and funded by JSW Sports and Inspire Institute Sports in Bellary, Karnataka. Also, he is a part of the Target Olympic Scheme launched by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Sreeshankar is lucky enough to have a father who is a former athlete turned coach. He had participated and won medals in state competitions and Junior nationals before making his way into senior nationals.
In 2018, Sreeshankar achieved his personal best of 7.99m and won the Gold medal at the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships in Patiala. Later in the year, he won another Gold medal while breaking the national record of Ankit Sharma’s 8.19m by jumping 8.20m at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
In 2019, he won the Gold medal with a distance of 7.74 meters at the Grand Prix Athletics Championships in Sangrur, Punjab. In July, he clinched the Gold medal by jumping 7.97 meters at Tatyana Kolpakova International Athletics in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, followed by another Gold medal with a jump of 8.00m at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala, Punjab.
In March 2021, Sreeshankar shattered his own national record by jumping 8.26 meters and won the Gold medal at the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships in Patiala, Punjab.
M.Sreeshankar was supposed to make his international debut at the 2018 Commonwealth Games but withdrew 10 days prior to the start of the event after being diagnosed with appendicitis.
His first international medal came in 2018 when he won the Bronze medal in the long jump with a distance of 7.47 meters at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Gifu, Japan. That year, he competed at the Jakarta Asian Games and qualified for the triple jump final, where he finished 6th with 7.95 meters.
In March 2021, Sreeshankar secured his Olympics berth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after achieving the Olympic qualification mark of 8.22m by jumping 8.26 meters. He is the 4th athlete in the long jump from Kerala since 1972 to qualify for the Olympics.
