Long jumper M Sreeshankar is on a high. The ongoing 61st inter-state National athletics meet here saw the 23-year-old break the meet record on two successive days. Sreeshankar topped the qualification rounds with a jump of 8.01m, rewriting the meet record set by Prem Kumar (8.00m) back in 2013. If that wasn’t enough, Sreeshankar clocked an 8.23m jump in the final to clinch gold. "I am happy with my performance in this competition. Having said that, I would like to work more on my consistency," Sreeshankar told TOI.
The Kerala athlete has already made the cut for the World championships in Oregon and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. After a disappointing Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the current season has seen Sreeshankar turning on the tables by showing good vein of form this year. While delving on the disappointment at the Tokyo Games where he finished 13th, Sreeshankar said, "I had issues with Covid before the competition and that hampered my training and subsequently my performance. My body wasn’t in great shape." On copping a lot of criticism for his Olympics show, Sreeshankar said, "It was very disappointing. But I feel the best way to answer your critics is to deliver your best and that’s what I aim to do."
