Long-jumper Murali Sreeshankar aims to better gold medal-winning performance at International Jumping Meet 2023

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar is making big strides in his career. He had earlier this month won the gold medal at the International Jumping Meet 2023 held in Kallithea, Greece with a jump of 8.18 metres. Sreesankar, however, is not completely happy with his performance. He wants to achieve this position in the coming season. Sreesankar, on the other hand, said that it was not his intention to push himself that far in the Greece event. “I didn’t intend to try that hard, but of course, 8.20m was my target for this competition. I competed in two events as preliminary competitions to see where my body was at that time. The competitive phase of the competition Sreesankar said, “The season has just started. So, I didn’t want to try so hard, but of course, since my target for this competition was 8.20m, I wanted to hit my target.”

Sreesankar talked about why he struggled to hit the mark he had set for himself to meet in Greece. The Kerala-born long-jumper said, “The wind played a major role on the day and this was the first time at Kallithea that we faced a headwind. Usually, we have a good tailwind and the day before when we had It was warm-up, the conditions were pretty ideal. I wasn’t able to get into my rhythm, so I had to put my approach more forward because I also lacked pace.”

thank you so much _ https://t.co/TeChqKq5qL— Sreeshankar Murali (@SreeshankarM) May 25, 2023

The International Jumping Meet 2023 held in Greece was the first competitive meet after the Inspire Institute of Sport athlete’s injury.

“It was my second international competition of the season but my first competitive tournament. I just didn’t execute the way we were planning. Usually during competitions, my approach would go back about 30 or 40 cm , but this time it came out like 20-30 cms because I lacked speed. I will have to put in more efforts to get into the rhythm and feel right towards the boat. So, in the next few competitions, I think I am sure I will be able to get into better rhythm and take bigger jumps as I get my body and mind in a competitive mode,” Sreesankar said while talking about his fitness and conditioning.

loving this bromance in the middle #TeamIIS Long jumpers Jeswin Aldrin and Sreesankar Murali. ,#CraftingVictory , #long jump #olympics pic.twitter.com/BMOaA0QsAt– Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) April 25, 2023

Murali, who is great friends with Jaswin Aldrin with whom he shares a very healthy competitive spirit, spoke about how they push each other on the track. “Jeswin made an incredible jump of 8.42m which set the tone not only for Indian jumpers but for all jumpers in the world. This healthy competition will definitely help all other jumpers to rise above and improve our own performance. It is very important that during this period we compete with each other in international competitions to gain more international exposure with top athletes from all over the world. We want to be prepared for the big stage events like the World Championships and the Asian Games which are lined up for this year.

good start to training camp in @TexasTech with coach @mkherston , Looking forward to having some great sessions under the belt! https://t.co/Zk2scK6pI4

— Sreeshankar Murali (@SreeshankarM) April 21, 2023

Sreeshankar will compete in the Paris Diamond League to be held on 9th June 2023, where he will go up against the best athletes from across the world. Murali, whom his father S. Murali, who is a former triple jump athlete and a silver medalist at the South Asian Games, talked about a busy competitive season fast approaching. Murali said, “This season is quite challenging as the Asian Games will be held in the first week of October and the Asian Games qualifiers will be held in the first week of June. So, we have to plan the season very carefully so that we can form and perform till the Asian Games We have World Championships in August, Asian Championships in July, so we have to prioritize the kind of events that we have to focus on and give our best for the main event, which is the World Championships. There will be a championship.

He concluded by talking about what he feels he should focus on in order to perform at his peak. Sreeshankar said, “My main focus right now will be to get the right rhythm on the approach, that is the one thing that I am lacking. We figured it out in the first competition, which we did in Kalithia. So now we are trying to find it.” How can I improve the final phase and overall rhythm of my approach so that I can properly execute the take-off for the jump?