World Championships: Long jumper Sreeshankar, steeplechaser Parul fail to qualify for finals

Star Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar failed to qualify for the finals in the World Championships with a 14th place finish in his qualification group as the country's athletes continued their disappointing performance here on Monday.

Competing in his third World Championships, Sreeshankar could only produce a best jump of 7.78m in his three attempts in Group A qualification round, in one of his worst performances in more than three years. He ended 25th overall out of 37 competitors. Those who touched automatic qualifying mark 8.15m or at least the best 12 places across the two groups made it to the finals.

He has had just two jumps worse than Monday's 7.78m since March 2022. Ironically, one of the two was a 7.74m during the qualification round of the 2023 edition of the showpiece, and now he has failed to qualify for the finals of a World Championships for the second consecutive time.

The 26-year-old had made it to the finals in the 2022 edition in Eugene, USA, finishing seventh.

Sreeshankar just failed to turn up on the big stage. He came into this showpiece with five titles in a row as he returned to action this year after missing out the whole of 2024, including Paris Olympics, due to a knee injury and subsequent surgery.

His season's best of 8.13m would not have been enough to be in the medal bracket but he would have at least made it to the finals.

He has a personal best of 8.41m, which he achieved in 2023.

In other events, national record holder Parul Chaudhary and Ankita Dhyani disappointed in the women's 3000m steeplechase, finishing ninth and 11th respectively in their respective heat races. Parul ended 20th overall while Ankita was 35th -- and last -- after the three heats.

Parul clocked 9 minutes 22.24 seconds, way outside her national record time of 9 minutes 12.46 seconds and the season best of 9:12.46. She had qualified for the finals in the 2023 edition in Budapest, eventually finishing 10th.

She had made it to the marquee event after breaching the direct qualification mark of 9:18.00 but her poor show could raise questions, especially since she had not competed for three and half months before Monday.

Her last competition was in the Asian Championships in Gumi, Korea, where she finished second with a time of 9:12.46.

Earlier, she was training abroad but has been based in Bengaluru after the Asian Championships.

Ankita, who made it to the showpiece at the last minute after the withdrawal of athletes from other countries above her in the world ranking, clocked 10:03.22.

In men's 110m hurdles, national record holder Tejas Shirse finished sixth in his eight-man heat to fail to qualify for the semifinals. The 23-year-old, whose national record stands at 13.41 seconds, clocked 13.57 seconds to finish 29th overall out of 42 competing athletes. He has a season's best of 13.51 seconds.

The first four in each of the five heats plus the next four fastest runners across heats qualify for the semifinal. Shirse was among the Indian athletes who qualified for the World Championships at the last minute. His visa was also delayed by a few days and was the last Indian to depart for Tokyo.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)