Murli Sreeshankar, a long jumper, places third in the Paris Diamond League competition

Veteran long jumper Murli Sreeshankar placed third in the Paris Diamond League athletics on Saturday with a noteworthy 8.09m performance.

The Diamond League, an annual circuit of elite track and field tournaments put on by World Athletics, had its fourth leg here. But the inclusion of the men’s long jump on the list of events was a novelty for this year.
Murali’s third effort resulted in his greatest leap of the evening. Only the reigning Olympic and Diamond League champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, who won the competition with an 8.13m leap, was ahead of him in second place after his 8.09m performance.

However, S Murali’s fourth-attempt foul and Simon Ehammer of Switzerland’s 8.11-meter leap, who won the bronze at the 2022 World Championships, dropped the Indian to third place.

Murali’s sixth run down the track resulted in a foul, while his fifth attempt measured 7.99m.

His second outing in the Diamond League was this one. With a 7.94m effort, he finished sixth in Monaco the previous year. His personal best jump, which he recorded last year, was 8.36 metres.

Jeswin Aldrin, who reached 8.42 metres earlier this year, holds the national record for men’s long jumping in India.

Murali entered the Diamond League’s Paris leg having won three straight gold medals.

With a season-best leap of 8.18 metres last month in Kallithea, Greece, the 24-year-old Indian won a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze medal competition and qualified for the forthcoming Asian Games in China.

He began his season earlier by taking first place in the Indian Grand Prix in March with a leap of 7.94 metres. With an 8.29m wind-assisted effort, he also finished first in the MVA High-Performance Athletics Competition in the United States.

Ten competitors participated in the long jump competition in Paris.

Cuba’s Maykel Masso, who won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics, placed sixth with the greatest leap of 7.83 metres.

The top eight competitors in each event advance to the final, and participants in the Diamond League are given points for their results in each leg.

The Diamond League Final for this year will take place on September 16 and 17 in Eugene, USA.