M Sreeshankar and the Potential That Was Realised With His CWG Long Jump Silver

Years later, when Sreeshankar watches videos of his performance, he would recall the day he fought till the end.

If this were a race, Murali Sreeshankar may have flung himself across the finish line. But he did not have that privilege. Standing on the long jump runway on Thursday, 4 August, he had to hold his nerve and come up with an effort that would get him the Commonwealth Games medal he yearned for. He had to make sure everything fell in place for that one big, elusive jump.

He had done well to shake off the bogey of last year’s Olympic campaign with seventh-place finishes both in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Beograd in March and the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon last month. He created better memories for himself, leaving others to linger in Tokyo 2020 and its aftermath.