Murali Sreeshankar

Murali Sreeshankar
Sreeshankar at the 2022 World Indoor Championships
Personal information
Born (1999-03-27) 27 March 1999
Palakkad, Kerala, India
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event
Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best8.41 m (2023)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  India
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place2022 HangzhouLong jump
Asian Championships
Silver medal – second place2023 BangkokLong jump
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place2022 BirminghamLong jump
Silver medal – second place2026 GlasgowLong jump
Asian Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place2018 GifuLong jump

Murali Sreeshankar (born 27 March 1999) is an Indian long jumper. He has won silver medals at the 2022 Asian Games, 2023 Asian Championships, and the 2022 and 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Early life

Sreeshankar was born on 27 March 1999 in Palakkad, Kerala in a sporting family. He is coached by his father S. Murali who is a chief reservation supervisor in the Indian Railways, and a former triple jumper and silver medalist at the 1989 South Asian Games. His mother K. S. Bijimol has won the silver medal in 800 m at the 1992 Asian Junior Championships. His younger sister Sreeparvathy is a medical doctor and a former heptathlete.[1]

He would accompany his father to practice as a four-year-old, when his father noticed his potential as a sprinter.[2] He became a state-level under-10 champion in 50 m and 100 m, but switched from sprinting to long jump at the age of 13.[3]

Career

Sreeshankar made his international debut at the 2018 Asian Indoor Championships in Tehran, jumping 7.60 m he narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place finish.[4] He was named in the Indian contingent for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, but had to pull out ten days before the event after being diagnosed with appendicitis.[5] Two months later after his appendectomy, he participated in the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in Gifu, where he won the bronze medal with a jump of 7.47 m.[6] He placed sixth at the 2018 World U20 Championships in Tampere, with a jump of 7.75 m.[7] At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, he finished sixth with a jump of 7.95 m.[3]

At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, he failed to qualify for the final, achieving a best leap of 7.62 m, with the qualification mark set at 8.15 m.[8]

Sreeshankar qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by recording a jump of 8.26 m, at the National Federation Cup in Patiala in March 2021.[9] At the Olympics, he registered a jump of 7.69 m in the qualifying round, finishing 24th among 36 athletes, and failed to enter the final.[10]

He placed seventh at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, with a jump of 7.92 m.[11] At the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, he finished seventh with a jump of 7.96 m.[12] At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he won the silver medal with a jump of 8.08 m and became the first Indian male long jumper to win a silver medal at the Games.[13] He made his Diamond League debut at the 2022 Herculis, where he finished sixth jumping 7.94 m.[14]

At the 2023 Meeting de Paris, he placed third with a jump of 8.09 m, becoming only the third Indian athlete that ever made it to the top three in a Diamond League meet, after Vikas Gowda and Neeraj Chopra.[15] Later, he finished fifth in the Laussane and Zurich legs of the 2023 Diamond League, jumping 7.88 m and 7.99 m respectively.[16][17] At the 2023 National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar, he set a personal best of 8.41 m, just 1 cm short of the national record, securing qualification for the 2023 World Championships and Asian Games.[18] He qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics by jumping 8.37 m to win the silver medal at the 2023 Asian Championships in Bangkok.[19] At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, he finished 22nd among 39 athletes with a jump of 7.74 m in the qualification round and did not advance to the final.[20] Later, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, he won the silver medal with a jump of 8.19 m. This was the first long jump medal for India since the 1978 Asian Games, ending a 45-year wait.[21]

He injured his knee on 16 April 2024 which required surgery, ruling him out of Olympic participation.[19] Later on 26 April 2024, he underwent a successful knee surgery in Doha.[22]

After recovering from the injury, he returned to athletics and at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, he finished 25th among 36 athletes with a jump of 7.78 m in the qualification round and failed to advance to the final.[23]

At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he won the silver medal with a jump of 8.09 m.[24]

International competitions

Representing the  India
YearCompetitionHostPositionResult
2018 Asian Indoor Championships Tehran, Iran 4th 7.60 m
Asian Junior Championships Gifu, Japan 3rd 7.47 m
World U20 Championships Tampere, Finland 6th 7.75 m
Asian Games Jakarta, Indonesia 6th 7.95 m
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 22nd (Q) 7.62 m
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 24th (Q) 7.69 m
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 7th 7.92 m
World Championships Eugene, U.S. 7th 7.96 m
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England 2nd 8.08 m
Diamond League Fontvieille, Monaco 6th 7.94 m
2023 Diamond League Paris, France 3rd 8.09 m
Lausanne, Switzerland 5th 7.88 m
Zurich, Switzerland 5th 7.99 m
Asian Championships Bangkok, Thailand 2nd 8.37 m
World Championships Budapest, Hungary 22nd (Q) 7.74 m
Asian Games Hangzhou, China 2nd 8.19 m
2025 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 25th (Q) 7.78 m
2026 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 2nd 8.09 m

Personal life

Sreeshankar did his schooling at the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kanjikode. He initially enrolled in civil engineering at the NSS College of Engineering, where he topped the university in his first semester. But subsequently dropped out to focus on athletics, and later joined the Government Victoria College, Palakkad to pursue a Bachelor of Mathematics degree, graduating with 15th rank at the university level.[1] He later completed a Master's degree in Statistics.[25]

He is a part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) started by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and is also sponsored by the Reliance Foundation.[26][27] He is employed as an assistant manager in the Reserve Bank of India since 2023.[28]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 Satish, A. (6 August 2022). "Spurred by steely grit, M Sreeshankar leaps to CWG silver". The New Indian Express.
  2. ↑ Jeemon Jacob Kochi (10 July 2021). "High flyer | M. Sreeshankar". India Today.
  3. 1 2 "Long jumper M Sreeshankar looks beyond Tokyo Olympics 2020 after impressive run at European circuit". Firstpost. 25 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "2018 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, Tehran | Men's Long jump". World Athletics. 3 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Long jumper Sreeshankar's CWG dreams over". The Times of India. 25 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Long jumper Sreeshankar finds silver lining in Junior Asian bronze". ESPN. 12 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "2018 World U20 Atheltics Championships, Tampere | Men's Long jump". World Athletics. 11 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "IAAF World Championships: Sreeshankar fails to qualify for final in long jump". India Today. 27 September 2019.
  9. ↑ "Long Jump: Sreeshankar sets new national record at Federation Cup, books Tokyo Olympics ticket". India Today. 16 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Tokyo Olympics long jump: M. Sreeshankar fails to make cut for final". Sportstar. 7 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar finishes seventh at World Indoors". Scroll. 19 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "M Sreeshankar finishes seventh in World Athletics Championships final with a best attempt of 7.96m". The Indian Express. 17 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Murali Sreeshankar bags historic silver in men's long jump with 8.08m attempt at CWG; Muhammed Anees Yahiya finishes 5th". Hindustan Times. 5 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "Long jumper Sreeshankar finishes sixth in Diamond League debut in Monaco". The New Indian Express. 11 August 2022.
  15. ↑ "Sreeshankar Murali finishes third in Paris Diamond League". ESPN. 9 June 2023.
  16. ↑ Bose, Shuvaditya (1 July 2023). "Lausanne Diamond League 2023: Murali Sreeshankar Finishes Fifth With 7.88m Jump". TheQuint.
  17. ↑ Narayan, Aaditya (31 August 2023). "Neeraj Chopra finishes second in Zurich Diamond League, Sreeshankar fifth". ESPN.
  18. ↑ "India's star long jumper Sreeshankar Murali wins ticket to Budapest World Athletics Championship in qualification round". Indian Athletics. 18 June 2023.
  19. 1 2 "Murali Sreeshankar Ruled Out of Paris Olympics Due to Knee Injury". News18. 18 April 2024.
  20. ↑ "Sreeshankar 'gutted' at 'unexpected' result at World C'ships, promises to bounce back". The Indian Express. 24 August 2023.
  21. ↑ Jain, Deepanshu (1 October 2023). "Asian Games Athletics: Murali Sreeshankar wins historic silver in men's long jump". The Bridge.
  22. ↑ "Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar undergoes successful knee surgery". ANI. 26 April 2024.
  23. ↑ "World Athletics Championships 2025: Sreeshankar fails to qualify for long jump final". Sportstar. 15 September 2025.
  24. ↑ "CWG: Sreeshankar bags silver in long jump at Glasgow". The Indian Express. 30 July 2026.
  25. ↑ Swaminathan, Swaroop (12 June 2022). "Training, preparation for Worlds, memes and more: Long jump star Sreeshankar opens up". The New Indian Express.
  26. ↑ "Longing to jump into international league". The New Indian Express. 6 February 2019. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019.
  27. ↑ "Long jump ace Murali Sreeshankar joins Reliance Foundation". Reliance Foundation. 4 February 2026.
  28. ↑ Ben, Ajay (21 February 2023). "Neglected by Kerala government, long jumper Sreeshankar joins RBI". Onmanorama.
  29. ↑ "Full list of Arjuna Awards Winners 2023". India Today. 9 January 2024.
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