Jeswin Aldrin broke the men’s long jump national record with a jump of 8.42 metres.

Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin grabbed headlines with a national record in the men’s long jump at the second AFI National Jumping Championships on Thursday. The 21-year-old jumped 8.42m to erase the previous mark of 8.36m set by Team India’s KM Sreeshankar at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode in April last year. Aldrin, who won silver at the Asian Indoor Championships in Astana last month with an effort of 7.97m, took the highest effort in a competitive frame to break the national record. Aldrin had jumped 8.37m in Kozhikode last year to win the gold, but since his jump was airborne, it was not accepted as a national record by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Sreeshankar, who won the silver with a jump of 8.36m, took the national record as his own as it came with a legal wind gust.

Aldrin’s dominance on Thursday can be gauged from the fact that he was the only competitor to cross the eight-meter mark.

He started with 8.05m and followed it up with 8.26 before finding the power and speed to clear 8.42m. Muhammad Anees Yahiya of Kerala finished second with a throw of 7.85m.

“The national record has been a long time coming and I’m glad it’s here where I train. It’s the result of all the hard work I’ve put in here over the years,” Aldrin said.

“I want to perform like this on a global scale now.” Gayatri Sivakumar created the women’s triple jump meet record with a leap of over 12.98m in hop, step and set to break the mark of 12.68m set by Alina Jose in the inaugural edition in Thiruvananthapuram last year.

He only had two valid jumps in six attempts, but both were good enough for the gold. He opened with 12.46m and got the record in his third attempt.

Tamil Nadu’s R Punitha jumped 12.39m to beat Maharashtra’s Sharvari Parulekar for the silver medal.

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