Tamil Nadu's Jeswin Aldrin broke the national record in men's long jump at the second AFI National Jumps Competition in Vijayanagar, Karnataka on Thursday.
The 21-year-old jumped 8.42 metres to go past the previous mark of 8.36 metres set by India teammate M Sreeshankar at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode in April last year.
Aldrin, who had won silver at the Asian Indoor Championships in Astana last month, had marked 8.37 metres in Kozhikode last year to win gold but since his jump was wind aided, it wasn't considered a national record by the Athletics Federation of India. Sreeshankar, who bagged silver, got that as his jump came with a legal tailwind.
On Thursday, Aldrin was the only competitor to cross the eight-metre mark. He opened with 8.05m and followed it up with 8.26 before finding the power and speed to get to 8.42m. Kerala's Muhammed Anees Yahiya took silver at 7.85 metres.
"The national record has been a while coming and I am happy it has come at a venue where I have been training. It is the result of hard work turned in here over the last few years," said Aldrin. "I now want to produce this kind of performance at the global level."
Gayathry Sivakumar set the women's triple jump meet record with a hop, step and jump over 12.98 metres to break the 12.68m mark set by Aleena Jose in the inaugural edition in Thiruvananthapuram last year.
She had only two valid jumps in six attempts, but both were good enough for gold. She opened with a 12.46m and got the record in her third attempt.
Tamil Nadu's R Punitha edged out Maharashtra's Sharvari Parulekar for silver in the event with a jump of 12.39 metres.
Results:
Men: Long Jump: 1. Jeswin Aldrin (TN) 8.42m; 2. Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Ker) 7.85; 3. Rishabh Rishishwar (UP) 7.77.
Women: Pole Vault: 1. G Sindhushree (Ktk) 3.50m; 2. Vibha Srinivasa (Ktk) 3.20m.
High Jump: 1. Abhinaya Shetty (Ktk) and Rubina Yadav (UP) 1.73m; 3. Niranjana Sampath (TN) 1.60m.
Long Jump: 1. L Sruthilekshmi (Ker) 6.11m; 2. Manisha Merel (Odi) 5.96; 3. R Punitha (TN) 5.85.
Triple Jump: 1. Gayathry Sivakumar (Ker) 12.98m (New Meet Record. Old: 12.68, Aleena Jose, Thiruvananthapuram, 2022); 2. R Punitha (Tamil Nadu) 12.39; 3. Sharvari Parulekar (Maharashtra) 12.30.