Paris Diamond League: Kerala Athlete Murali Sreeshankar secures third place in Paris Diamond League Long Jump

Murali Sreeshankar becomes the third Indian to finish in the top-three of a Diamond League event after Neeraj Chopra and Vikas Gowda.

Murali Sreeshankar claimed a brilliant third-place finish in the long jump event at the Paris Diamond League. This achievement makes him the third Indian athlete to secure a top-three position in a Diamond League event, following Neeraj Chopra who was the first Indian to win a Diamond League meet and thrower Vikas Gowda who excelled at discus throwing.

This was Sreeshankar’s second Diamond League appearance with the first coming in Monaco last year. There, he had finished sixth with a jump of 7.94m.

Sreeshankar achieved a jump of 8.09m, placing him behind Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and Simon Ehammer of Switzerland. The 8.09m jump is well below Sreeshankar’s personal best of 8.36m. Sreeshankar then fouled his fourth and fifth attempts before going 7.99m in the sixth and final jump.

Despite falling short of his personal best, Sreeshankar's performance was commendable. The Indian athlete also won a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze label event at Kallithea, Greece last month and qualified for the Asian Games in China. Sreeshankar will be oozing with confidence as he prepares to participate in the upcoming Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar