Murali Sreeshankar finishes 6th in Diamond League debut after winning silver at CWG 2022

Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medal winner Murali Sreeshankar finished 6th in the Men’s Long Jump event in the Monaco Diamond League on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Long Jumper registered the best timing of 7.94m and earned the sixth place finish behind athletes from Cuba, Greece, the USA, Jamaica, and Sweden. Earlier on August 4, Murali clinched the coveted silver medal at the CWG 2022 in Birmingham with the best throw of 8.08m in the Men’s Long Jump event. 

Meanwhile, competing in the Monaco Diamond League at the Herculis EBS, Stade Louis II, Sreeshankar registered a jump of 7.61m in his first attempt, before jumping to a distance of 7.84m in his 2nd. In the 3rd and 4th attempts, Sreeshankar registered jumps of 7.83m and 7.69m respectively and finished 6th in the standings with a 7.94m jump in his 5th attempt. 

Cuba’s Maykel Masso registers a jump of 8.35m at the Monaco Diamond League

Cuba’s Maykel Masso clinched the 1st spot finish with a jump of 8.35m, while Greek athlete Miltiadis Tentoglou finished 2nd with a jump of 8.31 m. The USA’ Marquis Dendy finished 3rd, courtesy of an 8.31m jump in his 3rd attempt, and missed out on a 2nd spot finish as his 2nd best jump of 8.17m was less than Tentoglou’s 8.30m. Jamaican long jumper Tajay Gayle finished 4th with a jump of 8.06m, while Thobias Montler of Sweden finished 5th with a jump of 7.96m.

Murali Sreeshankar's campaign in 2022

It is pertinent to mention that Sreeshankar’s performance at Monaco Diamond League was way behind his personal and season-best record of 8.36m. Earlier in April this year, he had registered a jump of 8.36m during the National Federation Cup at the Muhammed Koya Stadium, Thenhipalam. Ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, Sreeshankar finished 7th in the Men’s Long Jump Final at the World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022 with a jump of 7.96m.

Team India won eight medals in Athletics at Commonwealth Games 2022

Sreeshankar's silver medal at CWG 2022 was India’s second medal in Athletics at the quadrennial sporting event. While the 23-year-old won the silver medal on August 4, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar earlier opened India's medal tally in Athletics with a bronze medal finish in the Men’s High Jump Final on August 3. India completed their CWG campaign in Birmingham with a total of eight medals.

Kerala’s Eldhose Paul clinched India’s only gold medal in Athletics by winning the Men’s Triple Jump final as a silver medal for Abdulla Aboobacker in the same event led India to a historic 1-2. Indian race walker Priyanka Goswami earned the silver medal in the Women’s 10,000m Race Walk event, and Sandeep Kumar returned with a bronze medal in the Men’s category. Avinash Sable won the silver medal in Men’s 3000m Steeplechase before Javelin thrower Annu Rani won the bronze medal. 

(Image: @OlympicKhel/Twitter)