Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian to win a high jump medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Reuters
Bengaluru: India’s double national record holder Tejaswin Shankar, who owns the country’s best marks in both high jump and decathlon, will continue to keep his focus firmly on the combined events for the crucial 2026 season, which features both the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
This means he won’t be defending his historic high jump bronze from Birmingham 2022, where he became the first Indian to win a CWG medal in the discipline.
Speaking to DH, the 26-year-old track and field athlete confirmed that decathlon will remain his focus as he looks to scale new heights in the multi-disciplinary space, starting with the indoor season which includes heptathlon. The year will also see India host its first-ever indoor nationals at the country’s only indoor athletics stadium in Bhubaneswar in build-up to the Asian Indoors (Feb 6-8 in Nanjing, China) followed by the World Indoors (March 20-22, Poland).
"I want to do the combined events for both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year. It's going to be a long season as I intend to participate in a couple of indoor meets as well," said Tejaswin, who has been sweating it out during the off-season in Bhubaneswar. "Heptathlon is a nice way to ease up into the decathlon events."
Tejaswin, who has held the high jump national record (2.29m) since 2016, knows that his continued absence from the event may be seen as a missed medal chance by many. Especially at the CWG, where the field gets tougher with athletes like New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr (the reigning Olympic and World Champion) in the mix. Fans will hope Sarvesh Kushare, who soared to a personal best of 2.28m to make his maiden Worlds final this year, can push further.
In decathlon, however, Tejaswin is very much in the medal frame for the Asiad with his national record of 7826 points. But anything below 8000 at the CWG in Glasgow probably won’t be enough. Canada’s Damian Warner (PB: 9018), Grenada’s Lindon Victor (8756), Australia’s Ashley Moloney (8649) and others will enter as stronger favourites. Ask Tejaswin, and the challenge only motivates him further as he continues to place himself outside his comfort zone.
"I know it would have been comfortable to continue doing high jump, where I reached a certain level and could have gone beyond but I want to push my limits and not play it safe. I know it would have been nice to defend my medal at high jump but how cool it would be if I become the same guy bagging a medal in a completely different event in CWG. It may happen or may not happen but it’s a risk I am willing to take,” said the Delhi-born Tamil-speaking athlete.
But is this really goodbye to high jump? Turns out the Kansas State University alumnus still has unfinished business there too.
“The only regret I have in high jump is, I went all the way till 2.29m and didn’t cross 2.30. It would have been nice to be the first Indian to achieve that mark. That’s the only thing left in high jump for me and if it’s in my destiny then surely I will try to break the barrier. Interestingly, that’s also the best mark in the decathlon’s high jump. So you never know, I may breach that mark while competing in decathlon,” concluded Tejaswin.