Murali Sreeshankar finishes sixth at Monaco Diamond League 2022

The Commonwealth Games silver medalist's best attempt was 7.94m.

Murali Sreeshankar finished sixth in his Diamond League debut at Monaco. The Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medallist registered 7.94 metres as his best effort of the night in the men's long jump final.

Murali began his campaign with 7.61 metres. He bounced back with 7.84 metres and 7.83 metres in his next two attempts. The 23-year-old recorded a dip in his fourth attempt of 7.69 metres but compensated it with a jump of 7.94 metres in his fifth attempt to end the campaign. He didn’t make use of his sixth and final attempt.

Cuba’s Maykel Massó, Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, recorded his season’s best jump of 8.35 metres to finish first. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, secured the second rank while Marquis Dendy of the U.S.A ended on the third spot.

Miltiadis Tentoglou and Marquis Dendy were at 8.31 metres but Tentoglou ranked above Marquis on the virtue of second-best jump. Both had to share the silver medal though. Tajay Gayle of Jamaica won the bronze for his best jump of 8.06 metres.

A disappointing debut

Murali Sreeshankar came on the back of creating history in the Commonwealth Games 2022. In Birmingham, he became India’s first male long jumper to win a silver medal at the Games. 

A controversial call denied him the gold, and he tied with the eventual champion Laquan Nairn of Bahamas on 8.08 metres. Again, the second-best jump rule came into play as Laquan had 7.98 metres to his name against Murali's 7.84 metres.

Murali is yet to be known for consistency. In Monaco, the 23-year-old was expected to at least go past the ‘8-metre’ mark. Since his dismal show at the Olympics, he has regularly crossed the eight-metre mark.

He won the India Open Junior Competition in March with an 8.17 metres leap. He qualified for the Federation Cup with an 8.09m leap. In April, he made a new national record of 8.36 metres.

In July, Murali qualified for the World Championship final and finished seventh with a jump of 7.96 metres. However, he made a strong comeback in Birmingham 2022 with a best leap of 8.08 metres. It’s evident now that he needs to work on his consistency.

Also, Murali was supposed to make his Diamond League debut in Stockholm itself. However, visa issues denied him an opportunity to compete back then.