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World Athletics: Jeswin Aldrin finishes 11th in long jump final

Last updated on: August 25, 2023 08:36 IST

IMAGE: Jeswin Aldrin competes in the men’s long jump final. Photograph: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

National record holder Jeswin Aldrin finished a disappointing 11th with one legal mark of 7.77m in the men's long jump final of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Thursday.

After fouling his first two attempts, Aldrin produced a 7.77m jump in his third effort, which was not enough for him to be among the top eight in the 12-man final.

Only the top eight jumpers remain in the competition after the first three rounds while the remaining were eliminated.

Aldrin, who had entered into the showpiece as world season leader with his 8.42m national record effort in March, had on Wednesday produced a best jump of 8.0m in the qualification round to be the 12th and the last qualifier for the final.

His last two jumps in the qualification round were also fouls.

Earlier in the day, Ram Baboo finished 27th in men's 35km race walk event in a time of 2 hours 39 minutes 07 seconds. The 24-year-old holds the national record of 2:29:56.

The 21-year-old Aldrin had become the second Indian male long jumper to qualify for the final at the World Athletics Championships after Murali Sreeshankar, who had finished seventh in the 2022 edition of the event in the United States.

Sreeshankar failed to qualify for the finals this time after producing a best jump of 7.74m in the qualification round.

For Aldrin, this was his second appearance in the World Championships. He had crashed out at the qualification round in 2022.

Aldrin had been struggling to touch the 8m mark after his big jump of 8.42m early in the season. He had also faced fitness issues, which led to him missing the Asian Championships in July.

His most recent outing before the World Championships was at the CITIUS Meeting in Bern, Switzerland, which he won with 8.22m.

 

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