Tejaswin Shankar broke his own national record in decathlon at the Wieslaw Czapiewski Memorial in Poland on Sunday, July 27. Tejaswin became the first Indian athlete to score 7800 points in the gruelling 10-discipline event, as he finished 4th in the competition.
He amassed 7826 points in the competition, a World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold level meet. In the last event – 1500m race- Shankar set a personal best of 4:31.80. Shankar held the decathlon national record at 7666 points, achieved at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
At the end of day one of competition, the 26-year-old Indian topped the standings after accumulating 4292 points. He’d also clocked a personal best of 11.02s in 100m which was the first of the 10 events in the sport.
Tejaswin opened with a personal best in the 100m. In the long jump, he maintained the momentum with a season best effort of 7.57m, just five cm shy of his personal best of 7.62m set in 2023. In short put, he managed a modest 12.62m, which was below his season best. And then in high jump, he cleared 2.18m.
Shankar has consistently pushed the barriers as an Indian athlete. Back in the Asian Games 2023, Shankar won the silver medal with 7666 points, a tally that he broke on Sunday. In that competition, Shankar had fallen only 150 points behind gold medallist, China’s Qihao Sun.
Tejaswin Shankar’s Career
Born and raised in Delhi, Shankar’s athletic journey began in his school years when he switched from cricket to high jump, a decision that would shape his future career. His talent was evident early on as he started winning medals at inter-school athletics meets.
Shankar’s athletic prowess earned him a four-year athletics scholarship to Kansas State University in 2017, where he studied business administration. His career highlights include a gold medal at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games, where he set a Games record of 2.14 meters in men’s high jump. He also won silver at the 2016 South Asian Games. Despite facing setbacks like a groin injury and a slipped disc, Shankar’s resilience saw him bounce back stronger. In 2022, he secured a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, marking India’s first-ever high jump medal at the event.
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