Premium

Tejaswin Shankar defeats high jump Olympic silver medallist Shelby McEwen in an Indoor Meet

Featuring in his first Athletics meet of the year, Shankar recorded a best jump of 2.26m to edge past the home favourite Shelby who settled for silver with a best jump of 2.22m.

3 min readJan 31, 2026 05:15 PM IST

Tejaswin is participating in the Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, China next month where he will feature in the heptathlon event.(Credit: IIS/Instagram )

Tejaswin Shankar, India’s high jump national record holder, defeated Paris Olympics silver medallist Shelby McEwen to win the gold medal at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, a World Athletics Bronze Meet in Manhattan, Kansas on Friday.

Featuring in his first Athletics meet of the year, Shankar recorded a best jump of 2.26m to edge past the home favourite Shelby who settled for silver with a best jump of 2.22m. This win will be helpful for Shankar in accumulating crucial ranking points for the World Indoor Championships qualification.

He is participating in the Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, China next month where he will feature in the heptathlon event.

Training in US

Earlier this month, Shankar packed his bags and left for Manhattan for his second stint at KSU to do a Masters in kinesiology and exercise science. He aims to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and trains with a group of decathletes coached by Kip Janvrin, a former Pan American Games gold medallist.

“I have a consistent training environment. For two years, I’m in the country where the next Olympics is going to take place. I can give myself the best shot at trying to make the LA Olympics. If my journey to the Olympics goes through a classroom, I don’t mind it,” Tejaswin told this paper earlier this month.

Also Read | Athlete, teaching assistant, student – Decathlete Tejaswin Shankar takes on three roles in bid to qualify for 2028 Olympics

Unlike the others in his training group, Tejaswin can no longer participate in NCAA competitions because he has completed five years on the circuit.

“My eligibility has expired. Now, I’m just an old guy who’s training,” the 27-year-old said lightheartedly. “The athletes I train with are all NCAA eligible.”

Story continues below this ad

A decathlon national record holder with 7,826 points, Tejaswin aims to be the first Indian to break the 8,000-point barrier. Training with a group of competitive decathletes is an advantage.

“The coach (Janvrin) has scored some 8,500 points. The idea is to be among 8,000-point calibre athletes so I can break that barrier. There are two guys here who are around 7800-7900 points. So it’s a very strong group. Pole vault is one of their stronger events and one of my weaker ones. So I want to be where I’m pushed in training every day. Unlike in Delhi, where I was practising by myself and coaching myself,” he said.