Pole vaulter Dev Meena continued his extraordinary rise by breaking the national record once more at the 28th National Federation Athletics Championships, which took place on Tuesday at the Maharaja’s Stadium. Only two months after breaking the record at the National Games in Dehradun, the 20-year-old from Madhya Pradesh raised the bar to 5.35 meters. Despite his record-breaking performance, Dev fell short of the Athletics Federation of India’s 5.51-meter qualification standard for the upcoming Asian Championships. Reflecting on the day, he admitted that the rain had an impact on his performance and expressed hope for a 5.40-meter clearance later this year.
In the men’s long jump, Tamil Nadu’s P. David startled national record holder Jeswin Aldrin with a 7.94-meter gold leap in the fourth round. David had already crossed the 8-meter mark at the 2023 State Championships in Tirunelveli and expected to perform better. Jeswin, representing Reliance, set a personal best of 7.83 meters until cramps caused him to withdraw from his final three attempts.
Rupal Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh staged a dramatic comeback in the women’s 400m to beat Tamil Nadu’s Vithya Ramraj in the final moments, clocking 52.55 seconds.
