World Athletics Championships 2022: Murali Sreeshankar finishes 7th in long jump; Parul Chaudhary fails to qualify in women's steeplechase

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India's long jumper Murali Sreeshankar finished seventh at the World Athletics Championships 2022 here with a best effort of 7.96 metres, which was way below his national record of 8.36 metres achieved at the Federation Cup earlier this year. Competing with 11 others in the final at the Hayward Field, the 23-year-old Sreeshankar began with 7.96-metre jump, which made him the leader after the opening series. He, however, fouled his second and third attempts and subsequently got pushed down to sixth, according to Olympics.com on Sunday.

Murali Sreeshankar became the first Indian male long jumper to qualify for the World Athletics Championships finals. Anju Bobby George was the first Indian to make it to the World Championships finals. #WorldAthleticsChamps #WCHOregon22 pic.twitter.com/PE0TUQzTio — Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) July 16, 2022

With the bottom-four in the field dropping off after the third attempt, Sreeshankar's first jump kept him in the top-eight, and in contention for a medal. However, Sreeshankar could manage only 7.89 metres in his fourth and 7.83 in his final attempt as India's challenge in the event ended. He fouled his fifth attempt. China's Jianan Wang clinched the gold medal with an 8.36-metre jump in his final attempt, which saw him overcome the challenge from Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou, the reigning Olympic and world indoor champion. Tentoglou ended up with silver with an 8.32-metre jump.

Switzerland's Simon Ehammer took the bronze ahead of Cuba's 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze-medal winner Maykel Masso with a jump of 8.16 metres. On the opening day of the long jump competition on Friday, Sreeshankar was the only Indian to make the cut for the finals as compatriots Jeswin Aldrin and Muhammed Anees Yahiya failed to make the grade. Women's 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary came up with a personal best effort in the heats but did not qualify for the final. The top three from each of the three heats along with the next six fastest made the cut.

Parul, 27, finished 12th out of 14 competitors in her heat. She timed 9:38.09, eclipsing her previous best by 20 seconds set in March this year, according to the report. Lalita Babar still holds the national record in the event at 9:19.76, recorded at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Overall, Parul finished 31st out of 42 overall in the heats, nearly 37 seconds off the pace. In men's 400m hurdles, MP Jabir failed to advance, with the 26-year-old finishing last in his heat, clocking 50.76s. He fell short of his personal best by 1.63 seconds (49.13s at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships). The 26-year-old Indian's time placed him 31st among 36 athletes who started in the heats.