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Journalism of Courage
India’s Jeswin Aldrin, the athlete with the longest jump this season till Wednesday, took only the 12th and last spot in qualifying for the final with 8 metres at the World Championships. Aldrin’s 8.41 metres at Bellary in March was the best this year but it was bettered by Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock with 8.54 metres in Round One of qualifying.
Aldrin began with 8 metres and fouled his next two jumps and as qualifying reached the final stages he was clinging onto the last spot. He finished sixth in Group B.
After days of disappointing performances for India in Budapest, Aldrin became the first Indian to advance to the final at the 2023 World Championships.
Only four jumpers went past the automatic qualifying mark of 8.15 metres — Pinnock, China’s Jianan Wang (8.34m), Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.25) and Carey McLeod (8.19). Twelve jumpers, including Aldrin, jumped 8 metres or more.
Murali Sreeshankar, the second Indian in the fray and the Commonwealth Games silver medalist, however, didn’t make the final after failing to cross the eight-metre barrier. Sreeshankar’s three jumps of 7.74m, 7.66 and 6.70 placed him only 12th in Group A.
Aldrin would have experienced tense moments towards the end of the qualifying rounds. He had dropped to 11th on the standings. Only the top 12 in qualifying advanced to the final. China’s Wang Jianan, the defending champion, out of contention after 7.54 and 7.66 produced a big jump of 8.34 metres in the final round to make the cut. Aldrin slipped to 12th but held on to make the final.
Aldrin, 21, will be competing in his first World Championship final on Thursday night. He had failed to qualify for the final at Eugene, USA, last year whereas Sreeshankar had finished seventh. Before last year’s World Championships, the Athletics Federation of India had asked Aldrin to appear for two trials because despite qualifying his form was tapering off.
The more experienced Sreeshankar failed to find his range when it mattered on Wednesday. Sreeshankar’s season best of 8.41 metres was the second best jump in the world after Aldrin’s national record of 8.41 metres but he never got close to it.
Aldrin had jumped 8.22 in Bern in the first week of August but the question was if he could replicate that form at the Worlds. He has crossed the first hurdle but with a bunch of experienced jumpers making it to the final, he will have to hold his nerve and jump to his potential to be in contention for medals.
Asian Athletics Championship winner Lin Yu-Tang of Chinese Taipei didn’t qualify for the final. Also missing out was Commonwealth Games champion LaQuan Nairn of Bahamas who fouled all three attempts. Pinnock, a world under-20 bronze medalist from 2018, is tipped as one of the future stars. At 22, the final on Thursday could be his breakthrough day at the senior level.
“I just jumped like I do in training. I came here, had the focus and just jumped. My coach told me to take one jump and I did it that way. When I saw the distance, I was like: ‘Oooh.’ I was trying for this moment and it happened so I am grateful. In the final, I want to go out there and do the same thing and whatever comes will come. I focused on pushing my first six or seven steps, then just kept my transition and take-off,” Pinnock said.
Tentoglou, the Tokyo Olympic champion, had a tough qualifying round but his eyes will be firmly set on the World Championship gold, a medal he has never won.
“This qualification was the hardest ever for me and hopefully harder than the final. My first jump was over 8.30m, but I had a very small foul. Then I was about 30cm behind the board on the second. These were just normal long jumper’s mistakes but they could have cost me the final. I couldn’t imagine it was possible not to get to the final. In the third round I concentrated on doing an accurate run-up and take-off. The World Championship gold is the only medal that I do not have yet; so I am feeling hungry,” Tentoglou said.
Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, the bronze medalist from last year, also made the final with 8.13 metres.
