It is a measure of the high standards Tejaswin Shankar has set for himself that he does not find the need to celebrate the fact that he just set a new national record. Competing for the Kansas State University, the 19-year-old high jumper cleared 2.29m at the Corky/Crofoot Shootout in Lubbock Texas, a centimeter higher than the previous national record of 2.28m he had set only last month at the Federation Cup in Patiala.
Admitedly, Shankar is dealing with a few distractions. "I strained my neck in the competition so it's a little difficult for me to enjoy the record," he says.
There's also the matter of his impending final exams. "If I don't get a minimum 2.0 GPA, I'm not going to be allowed to compete in the NCAA so that's on my mind too. After I cleared 2.29m, there's a small part of me that is wondering why I couldn't have done this three weeks back."
Those emotions were communicated succinctly in a tweet Shankar put out not long after his competition:
Highjump is the funniest sport! 2 weeks ago I jumped 2.24 @GC2018 and today it's another New Indian national record!(2.29m) Everything has a time... "ifs and buts" shouldn't be part of the game. Just onwards and upwards from now!
Highjump is the funniest sport! 2 weeks ago I jumped 2.24 @GC2018 and today it's another New Indian national record!(2.29m) Everything has a time... "ifs and buts" shouldn't be part of the game. Just onwards and upwards from now! @afiindia https://t.co/dMqz3HJlT4
- Tejaswin Shankar (@TejaswinShankar) April 28, 2018
On April 11, competing in his first Commonwealth Games, Shankar finished sixth with his final successful clearance coming at 2.24m. While the mark was 4cm short of his then personal best, it was still the best performance by an Indian high jumper in the history of the competition. And while it might have seemed a bitter pill to swallow for almost any athlete, Shankar has made his peace with the result.
"I would have wanted to clear 2.28m at the Commonwealth Games, but I wouldn't say I was disappointed with how I did in Gold Coast. I've only started consistently clearing 2.20m this year. I understand that 2.24m was the height I could consistently clear. And at least I didn't embarrass myself."
At a different time in his life - even just a year ago - he would not have been as much at ease with himself. "This would have been different if I was only taking part in competitions in India. Back then I had maybe four or five competitions in a year. If I did badly in one, that would be a huge setback because I would have to wait a few months to get another chance to compete."
That's not the case at Kansas State, where Shankar joined in 2017. In just the first four months of the year, he has already competed on eight separate occasions. "It's like the IPL," he says. "You have tournaments coming up every few weeks. You don't have time to even feel bad about any result because you have a new competition to think about."
This, of course, is not to say Shankar did not take back anything from the Commonwealth Games.
"People say 'don't let your competitors get to your head'. This sounds like an obvious thing. I've told lots of other athletes about this too but unless you do it yourself, you don't really know how to do that.
"You really don't know what it's like to be competing after a guy like Brandon Starc. There are 40000 people cheering for him and the ground itself seems to be shaking when he is running in. And then when you begin your jump, its completely quiet. No one can really prepare you for that. This is simply something you figure out as you go along."
The learning to not be bogged down by his result at the Games was drilled in when just the day after his competition at Gold Coast, Shankar received a message from Cliff Rovelto, his coach at Kansas State University.
"I was hoping I might get a few days to enjoy myself at the village, but coach Rovelto wanted to know when I would get back to my training schedule once again. He told me the most consistent athlete was the one who sticks to his plans."
This is why Shankar has already put the Lubbock tournament behind him.
"I don't even think this was a very good jumping competition for me," he says. "Because I was in the middle of a lifting cycle I wasn't nearly at my peak physically. And my closest competitor (Trey Culver who had a personal best of 2.33m but bowed out at 2.11m on Saturday) finished early. So there was no one to push me further." Shankar could have even attempted a higher mark (he took just one attempt to clear 2.29m) but decided against it owing to the strain in his neck.
Shankar will now be attempting to go even better at the Big 12 Championships in May, followed by the NCAA regional qualifiers later that month. A top-32 finish there will qualify him for the Division 1 Championships in June. But even these competitions are just part of the bigger plan.
"For the next two or three years I just want to learn all the time. There will always be another competition to focus on."