Today, India had another great success in track and field as national record breaker Sarvesh Kushare became the first Indian high jumper to take a podium at a Diamond League meet on his debut. Kushare, who was the first Indian to make a high jump at the Monaco Diamond League on his competitive debut, was the third highest placed high jumper to make a best jump of 2.26 metres and became the first person to do so in the history of track and field in India.
The 29-year-old is now the fourth Indian athlete to finish in the top three at a Diamond League event. Neeraj Chopra, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, and discus thrower Vikas Gowda are among the three. Kushare’s success is another huge step forward in India’s international standing in Athletics as a country.
His podium finish comes just weeks after he broke the national record in Bhubaneswar at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships. Kushare went 2.31 metres to beat Tejaswin Shankar's eight-year-old national record of 2.29 metres on June 27, becoming the first Indian high jumper to cross the 2.30-metre mark.
Kushare competed against some of the biggest names in world high jumping as well as Olympic and world champions in Monaco. Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk won the title with a season-best jump of 2.32 metres, while Britain’s Kimani Jack took second place after clearing 2.30 metres.
Kushare was able to finish in the top three, one of his best performances of his career. He managed to get 2.12m, 2.16m, 2.20m, 2.23m and 2.26m (all on his first attempt), showing such consistency under pressure.
His performance was even more impressive given the quality of the competition. Kushare was ahead of Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, one of the greatest high jumpers of all time. The three-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medallist managed only 2.20 metres and finished joint eighth place.
Also behind the Indian were Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, American JuVaughn Harrison, Romania's Beckford and Italy's Matteo Sioli, sharing fourth place after clearing 2.20 metres.
Kushare was able to win medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on July 23 due to that. So with Britain's Kimani Jack among his main rivals again, Kushare's consistency in Monaco will be a huge boost for him as he strives for India's first Commonwealth Games medal in men's high jump in years.
Kushare’s journey to the international podium has been anything but straightforward. He was raised in Nashik, Maharashtra, and was taught high jumping from home and used makeshift landing pits made of corn husks and cotton and agricultural waste as a substitute for professional landing mats. But his stubbornness helped him to rise the ranks of Indian athletics.
He began to compete nationally fairly late and made his mark at the Junior National Championships in 2014 at the age of 20. He continued to improve over the years and took 2.24 metres at the 2018 Indian Open and repeated his title with a 2.26m jump in 2019. He also improved his personal best to 2.27m and won gold at the 2022 National Games in Gujarat.
But the elusive national record remained beyond his reach until this year. His breakthrough finally came in Bhubaneswar where his record-breaking 2.31m jump cemented him as India’s greatest high jumper statistically and solidified his place among the country’s elite athletes.
Sarvesh Kushare now has a national record and a Diamond League podium finish in the history of athletics. He is one of India’s brightest medal hopes in athletics and hopes to go far in the Commonwealth Games, and so his performance in Monaco has raised his confidence and is a sign that Indian athletics will soon celebrate another landmark achievement on the global stage.
