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Indian jumper Sreeshankar Murali has received direct qualification to the finals of the Men’s Long Jump event. Murali just required 8.05m leap to qualify for the finale. 8m was the automatic qualifying mark and he was the first jumper to break this barrier. His final will be on 4 August.

Sreeshankar is the top contender in the Men’s long jump event from India as he broke the national record in 2021. He overtook Ankit Sharma with a leap of 8.36 metres and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. 

He was born in Palakkad, Kerala, and was coached by his father S. Murali who is a former triple jump athlete and silver medallist at the South Asian Games. A young Sreeshankar would attend his father’s practices as a four-year-old when his father spotted his potential as a sprinter. He represented his state at the U-10 in 50-meter and 100-meter before moving to a long jump. 

Before the 2022 CWG, Murali created history as he entered the finals of the World Athletics Championship where he finished seventh. Reacting to this performance, former Indian long jump record holder Ankit Sharma praised him and compared him to Neeraj Chopra, the only Indian Olympics Gold medallist in Athletics. 

Just like Neeraj, he is also very dedicated and humble: Ankit Sharma

He said, “It is a huge thing for a long jump in the country. I stopped at the 8.19m range but always dreamt that some other Indian would take the mantle forward. At one point crossing the 8m barriers was considered huge, now we have three jumpers who can do that. When I was competing I couldn’t imagine a long jumper from our country reaching the Worlds finals.” 

“He is blessed with great genes thanks to his athlete parents. His strength is his explosiveness. He can do 8m at whatever angle he lifts off from. His approach has also improved a lot in recent times. Just like Neeraj, he is also very dedicated and humble. He has no distractions and works really hard like Neeraj,” adds Sharma.