Commonwealth Games: Murali Sreeshankar wins silver in long jump

On Wednesday, Indian athlete Murali Sreeshankar won the silver medal in the men's long jump competition at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. This is his second medal in the second consecutive Commonwealth Games. The 27-year-old Murali Sreeshankar achieved his best attempt with a jump of 8.09 meters. He also won a silver medal in Birmingham 2022. He was behind Jamaica's former world champion Tajay Gayle, who won the gold medal with a jump of 8.15 meters. Scotland's Stephen Mackenzie won the bronze medal with 8.08 meters.

Until the halfway stage of the competition, Sreeshankar was leading, but in the fourth round, Tajay Gayle took the decisive jump to take the lead. Sreeshankar's six attempts included 8.03 meters, 8.09 meters, two fouls, 7.94 meters, and 7.97 meters.

Another Indian athlete, Lokesh Sathyanathan, who participated in the competition, achieved fifth place with his best jump of 7.97 meters in his first Commonwealth Games.

This medal is another important milestone in Sreeshankar's comeback journey. Due to a knee injury, he could not participate in the Paris Olympics 2024 despite qualifying for the games. Before heading to Glasgow, he was in excellent form and had achieved his season's best jump of 8.38 meters.

This is India's fifth medal in the long jump at the Commonwealth Games, while Murali Sreeshankar is the only Indian athlete to have secured a place on the podium twice in this event. Previously, Suresh Babu (men's bronze, 1978), Anju Bobby George (women's bronze, 2002), and Prajusha Maliakal (women's silver, 2010) have won medals for India in this event.

In Glasgow 2026, this is India's third medal in athletics. Previously, Sarvesh Kushare won a silver medal in the high jump and Gavit Verma Singh won a silver medal in the 10,000 meters run.

On the other hand, national record holder Parul Chaudhary finished fifth in the women's 3000 meters steeplechase with a time of 9:26.75 minutes. Kenya's Faith Cherotich won the gold medal with a games record time of 9:01.76 minutes, while England's Alice Toner (9:05.45) and Uganda's Peruth Chemutai (9:09.96) won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Parul Chaudhary will have another chance to secure a place on the podium on Thursday in the 5000 meters run.

Meanwhile, India's Manpreet Kaur missed out on winning a medal in the women's shot put competition by a narrow margin. She achieved fourth place with her best attempt of 17.49 meters. Canada's Sarah Mitton won the gold medal with a throw of 19.88 meters, while Nigeria's Jessica Ojulee won the silver medal with 17.87 meters. Jamaica's Lloydricia Cameron also threw the same distance but was awarded the bronze medal based on the countback rule.

Manpreet consistently showed improvement in her performance during the competition. She threw 15.92, 16.66, 17.00, 16.89, and 17.49 meters, but her final attempt was declared a foul. She was in the medal race for a long time but was pushed out of the podium in the final round by Cameron.

Meanwhile, India's Santosh Kumar Tamilarasan and Yashas Plakkat secured their places in the final of the men's 400 meters hurdles as the fastest non-automatic qualifiers. Santosh achieved an overall seventh place with a time of 49.51 seconds, while Yashas completed the race in 49.65 seconds.