Indian high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, 22, rewrote the national record in his first attempt at heptathlon at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, in Kansas City. The high jump specialist amassed 5,650 points over two days to erase PJ Vinod’s tally of 5,561.
Hepathlon comprises seven events but Tejaswin, the Indian national record holder in the high jump, believed he had a good chance to break another mark.
“I looked up the national record on Wikipedia and then pulled out my calculator. I added up points I could potentially score and I knew I had a good chance. I was most worried about the pole vault event as it was a totally alien sport to me,” Tejaswin said.
At the Kansas State University, where Tejaswin is pursuing a degree in business management, all promising athletes undergo pentathlon (five events) training ahead of the outdoor season. Since the last two years, Tejaswin has been actively participating in the programme and feels it made the transition to heptathlon all the more easier.