Glasgow: Tejaswin Shankar made history for India in athletics and the Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Indian to win a medal in Men’s Decathlon in a major international multi-sport event at Glasgow on Friday.
The high jumper-turned decathlete, Tejaswin Shankar, also got his name into the record books by becoming the first Indian athlete to win medals in two different disciplines in the Commonwealth Games. He won a bronze medal in men’s high jump in the 2022 edition in Birmingham.
The first Indian decathlete to cross the 8,000-point mark, Tejaswin won bronze in Glasgow with 7,976 points in the most gruelling event in the track and field competition.
The reigning Asian Champion in both heptathlon and decathlon, Tejaswin finished behind Victor Lindon of Granada, who ended with a season-best 8096 points, while Canada’s Damian Warner took the silver medal with 8036 points.
In the competition spread over many days, the 27-year-old Tejaswin finished 7th in the 100m with a timing of 10.96 seconds (870 pts), cleared 7.82m in the long jump to claim 1015 points and moved to overall third in the standings. He gained 673 points in shot put, soared to 2.15m in high jump for 944 points and bagged 837 points by finishing fifth in the 400m race for a combined total of 4339 at the end of five events and was placed second in the standings.
Tejaswin got 922 points in the 110m hurdles, a modest 674 in discus throw and 704 in pole vault, after which he slipped to fourth in the overall standings. A good performance in the javelin throw pushed him back into the medals bracket, moving him to third, and he confirmed his medal by bagging 704 points in the 1500m race, for a total of 7976 points.
Tejaswin is the Indian national record holder in the decathlon and a graduate of Kansas State University, where he won two NCAA Division I titles in the high jump. Over the course of his career, he has competed successfully in both high jump and combined events at the national and international levels. Tejaswin gained prominence in the high jump after setting the Indian record of 2.29m in 2018. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he won bronze, becoming the first Indian male high jumper to win a medal at the Games. Later, he transitioned his focus to combined events and secured the silver medal in the decathlon at the 2022 Asian Games.
(IANS)
