World Athletics Championships 2023: Jeswin Aldrin advances to finals, M Sreeshankar crashes out

Published at :August 23, 2023 at 9:19 PM

Modified at :January 13, 2024 at 6:16 PM

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Annu Rani finished 11th in the Women’s Javelin Throw Qualifiers.

On the fifth day of the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, three Indian athletes participated in the morning session. The events included Annu Rani’s participation in the women’s javelin throw qualification round and M Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin competing in the men’s long jump qualification. Parul Chaudhary will be taking part in the heats of the women’s 3000m steeplechase scheduled for the evening.

In the women’s javelin Group A qualification, Annu Rani began her attempts with a throw of 57.05m which fell short of her season’s best and the automatic qualification mark. Her performance placed her ninth after the initial round of attempts among the 18 athletes in the group. Unfortunately, her third attempt yielded a lackluster 56.01m. Annu Rani, unable to replicate her personal best of 63.24m didn’t manage to secure a spot in the World Athletics Championship women’s javelin throw final. Ultimately, she finished 11th in the Women’s Javelin Throw Qualifiers with her best throw recorded at 57.05m.

This season, Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar achieved an impressive feat by claiming the top two spots in the best outdoor jump rankings. This marked the first time that two Indian athletes had achieved this distinction leading up to the World Championships.

Jeswin Aldrin, the national record holder in the long jump, successfully advanced to the finals of the World Athletics Championships in his debut appearance. However, his fellow competitor Murali Sreeshankar faced disappointment as he exited the competition during the qualification round due to a subpar performance. Aldrin achieved a distance of 8.0m in his initial attempt. Despite fouling his next two jumps, his performance was sufficient to secure his place among the final 12 athletes with the ultimate showdown scheduled for Thursday. Aldrin, finished sixth in Group B’s qualification round and secured the 12th spot overall, narrowly making it into the finals as the last qualifier.

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In contrast, Sreeshankar endured a disappointing series of jumps achieving distances of 7.74m, 7.66m and 6.70m. This performance placed him 12th in Group A’s qualification round and 22nd overall. While Sreeshankar had displayed greater consistency throughout the season and frequently surpassed the 8m mark, today simply wasn’t his day.

Sreeshankar’s unexpected exit was a stark contrast to his previous successes including a third-place finish in the Paris Diamond League as well as a seventh-place ranking in the 2022 World Championships held in the USA. This event marked his third appearance in the prestigious competition. He achieved his personal best of 8.41m in Bhubaneswar in June and came into the World Championships on the back of a second-place finish with a jump of 8.37m in the Asian Championships held in July.

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