In what can be called a failed attempt by the Indian athletes, the upcoming long jumpers Nayana James, and the U20 World Championships silver medalist Shaili Singh missed out on the Paris 2024 qualification, at the 3rd Indian Open Jumps competition in Bengaluru on Wednesday. While the experienced Nayana pipped Shaili to take the gold medal, with a personal best effort of 6.67m, it just wasn’t enough for Olympics ticket.
On the other hand, Shaili could only manage a season’s best jump of 6.40m, to finish a distant second. The qualification mark for women’s long jump for Paris 2024 is set at 6.86m. It is important to note that this is even higher than the long-standing national record mark of Anju Bobby George (6.83m), that she set at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Men’s Long Jumpers & Triple Jumpers Fail to Book Paris Berths Too
It was not a great day for the men’s long jumpers and triple jumpers as well, as they were way off the mark, from the Paris qualifications. Two Indian men long jumpers have already made it to the Olympics — Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar, and weren’t at the event. That meant Muhammad Anees Yahiya won the gold with a best effort of 7.94m, while the Paris qualifcation standard is 8.22m.
In the triple jump section, Abdulla Aboobacker had a best effort of 16.76m to win the gold medal, but that wasn’t enough for Paris 2024, with the qualification standard set at 17.22m.