CHENNAI: As many athletes train ahead of the Indian Athletics Open Series – 6, which is the final event before the all-important National Athletics Federation Senior Competition later this month, the presence of India’s long jumper M Sreeshankar cannot go unnoticed. The 27-year-old from Palakkad made a strong comeback from a knee injury last year. He was able to throw beyond the eight meter mark and qualified for the Tokyo Worlds.
The Federation competition serves as the final selection trial for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow, set to begin in July.
This year, he continued his strong run. At the Indian dances at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, he recorded a jump of eight meters to win the gold medal.
As he prepares in the weather conditions which have taken everyone by surprise as the day saw rain, Sreeshankar said that this is a preparation event. “The main objective is to be in good shape for the main events. But Indian standards are also high now. So, I have to improve my preparations. We have two more jumpers (Shah Navas and Lokesh Selva Prabhu) who can jump 8.20m. After 2022, this is the first time we have three jumpers in 5-8.20,” he said of the good practice for the 8.20 sport. on Saturday.
With the other jumpers raising the bar, Sreeshankar explained his preparations. “High tides lift all forms. Basically, Jeswin (Aldrin) pushed me in the 8.40m. So that will also help me get to the next level after the injury,” he said.
His preparations ahead of a demanding season have been good so far, but have also come with some lessons. While he has had a ‘proper pre-season’, Sreeshankar had time to make some course corrections at a high-performance training camp along with his father Murali in South Africa, apart from participating in the Simbine Classic in Pretoria. He learned how to adapt to the cold conditions, which could come in handy at the upcoming CWG in Glasgow. “I learned how to prepare whenever the weather changes and strategize my warm-up. It was a good experience,” he said.
The main tweak the Asian Games and CWG silver medalist has been working on is his approach. “I worked hard on my approaches. The first two phases of my approach are where I always got it wrong. The pace of the approach determines everything about the jump,” he said.
“If I rush in the first phase of my approach, then I have to lengthen my stride towards the end of the approach. I have to be very calm and still focus on pushing the first steps into the approach. I have to get the plank right under my hips, which is the main objective. But I was doing the complete opposite, (of going full speed in the first few meters, the problem was different. The two steps of first,” he said.
With the key changes, Sreeshankar could spring another surprise and position himself in a favorable position ahead of the Federation Race in Ranchi.
Vishal rested
Tamil Nadu national record holder and quarter miler Vishal TK will not be participating in the Indian Athletics series. It is understood that he has been rested as a precaution after the World Athletics Relay which took place last week in Botswana. He is expected to take part in the Senior Athletics Competition later this month. This year Vishal has participated in two indoor events (200m in Indian Athletics Series – 1 and 400m in Indian Open Series – 3).
