BENGALURU: IT wasn’t the most impressive of displays for Murali Sreeshankar — a best jump of 7.94m at the Indian Grand Prix-3 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Monday was well below his best. But for the 24-year-old from Kerala, the performance marked the return from an injury and the start of what will be a hectic 2023.
After injuring his hamstring at the National Games in October last year, Sreeshankar had been forced to take a break from training for more than a month. Given the circumstances, he was happy with his performance. “It was my first competition after the injury,” said Sreeshankar. “I got the rehab done as early as possible. I started training by the end of November. So that’s why I did not compete at the Jumps Nationals at Bellary (in March), because it was too early for me. This was a solid opener.”
“I just wanted to kick-start things in a good way,” he added. “The conditions were not ideal because there was a strong headwind, so I was struggling to get the rhythm right. As I said, this is my first competition after injury so there is a lot of room for improvement. I will be looking forward to some good performances.”
2022 was turning out to be a pretty good year for Sreeshankar before his injury. In July, he became the first Indian long-jump athlete to qualify for a World Championships final where he finished seventh. Then, less than a month later, he won a historic silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, a performance that he considers as his ‘breakthrough’.
These are feats that he will be hoping to emulate in what promises to be a hectic season ahead that will segue into preparation for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. For Sreeshankar, Monday’s jump marked the start of that journey. His next stop will be the US.
“I will be going to Texas Tech University where myself and my dad will be having a training camp with coach Keith Herston,” he said. “It will be a 24-day camp which also includes one competition in San Diego. And then, we will be heading to Europe.”
“In Europe, I will be competing in Diamond League events,” Sreeshankar added. “Then we have Asian Championships and the World Championships as well. And then we have the Asian Games. So this season is pretty hectic. We have no time for rest or recovery. I will probably take one month to recover before heading into preparation for Paris.”
The national record mark that Sreeshankar set in April 2022 was broken by Jeswin Aldrin at the National Games, the same event where the former got injured. Recapturing that mark would undoubtedly be on his to-do list, but Sreeshankar insists that he isn’t setting a target to jump past this season. “The main goal is to win medals. I have to do whatever jump will get me that medal.”
