World Athletics Championships: Parul, Aldrin qualify for finals as Sreeshankar makes shock exit

Parul Chaudhary became only the second Indian female athlete to progress to the final of a track event in the World Athletics Championships as she finished fifth in 3000m steeplechase heats on Wednesday. Chaudhary clocked a personal best of 9 minutes 24.29 seconds to take fifth place in heat number two and progress to the final round which will be held on Sunday. The top five finishers in all three heats qualified for the final. Chaudhary’s previous personal best was 9:29.51 which was clocked at an event in USA in May this year.

Parul Chaudhary clocks a personal best time of 9:24.29 to qualify for the women's 3000m Steeplechase final in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She ran a smart race to get to the fifth place and secure a berth in the final. pic.twitter.com/eBMHH8Lkjn

— G Rajaraman (@g_rajaraman) August 23, 2023

Before 28-year-old Chaudhary, Lalita Babar, also a 3000m steeplechase athlete, was the lone Indian woman to qualify for the final at a World Championships in a track event. Babar, who continues to hold the women’s 3000m steeplechase national record of 9:19.76, had finished eighth in the final of the 2015 World Championships. Earlier in the day, national record holder long jumper Jeswin Aldrin qualified for his maiden World Championships finals but fellow competitor Murali Sreeshankar made a shock exit at the qualification round after his worst performance of the season. Javelin thrower Annu Rani, also a national record holder but struggling for form for some time, produced her second worst performance of the season with a 57.05m effort to crash out in the qualification round after finishing 11th in Group A and 19th overall.

DAY 5 at #Budapest23 World Athletics Championships.
Jeswin Aldrin advanced to the final of men's long jump with an efforts of 8m, while Murali Sreeshankar best jump of 7.74m didn't fetch him place in medal round.

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) August 23, 2023

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Also on the sixth day of the World Championships, national record holder long jumper Jeswin Aldrin qualified for his maiden World Championships finals but Murali Sreeshankar made a shock exit in the qualification round after his worst showing of the season. Javelin thrower Annu Rani, also a national record holder, produced her second worst performance of the season with a 57.05m effort to crash out in the qualification round having finished 11th in Group A and 19th overall. Aldrin, 21, who entered the World Championships as season leader with his 8.42m national record in March, jumped 8.0m in his first attempt and fouled his next two jumps. But it was sufficient for him to make it to the 12-man final on Thursday. The criteria mark in qualification was set at 8.15m or top 12 from the two qualification groups. Aldrin, who finished sixth in Group B, was the 12th best performer overall and just about squeezed into the finals. He thus became the second Indian male long jumper to qualify for the finals at the showpiece event after Murali Sreeshankar, who had finished seventh at the 2022 World Championships. For Sreeshankar it was a disappointing run of jumps on the day. The 24-year-old produced 7.74m, 7.66m and 6.70m as he finished 12th in Group A and 22nd overall to miss the cut. This was Sreeshankar’s worst performance of the season. His exit in the qualification round added to a dismal start for India at the World Athletics Championships. It all began with 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable failing to make it to the finals . Sreeshankar, who has been more consistent than Aldrin, crossed the 8m mark on many occasions this season. He achieved his personal best of 8.41m in Bhubaneswar in June and was entering the World Championships on the back of a silver medal-winning jump of 8.37m at the Asian Championships in July. On Wednesday, though, Sreeshankar, Paris Diamond League third place finisher, lost his form when it mattered. This was his third appearance in the showpiece. For Aldrin, this was a second appearance in the World Championships. He had failed to go past the qualifying round in 2022. The competition witnessed some dramatic moments with Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and defending champion Wang Jianan of China finding themselves in danger of missing out on the finals before making the grade with their third and final jumps of 8.25m and 8.34m respectively. Young Jamaican national champion Wayne Pinnock, 22, stunned the crowd in Budapest with a 8.54m new world leading jump in his first attempt in Group A qualification round. He did not take any further jumps. Asian champion Lin Yu-Tang of Chinese Taipei also missed the final round with a best jump of 7.45m while reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist LaQuan Nairn of Bahamas recorded a ‘No-Mark’ after three foul jumps. Javelin thrower Annu Rani, who has failed to breach the 60m mark this season, once again had a poor day. Rani had qualified for the World Championships by virtue of her world ranking quota. The 30-year-old had performances of 54.76m (at an event in Germany), 59.10m (Asian Championships), 59.24m (Federation Cup) and 58.22m National Inter-State Championships) this year. Indian athletes have disappointed so far at the Worlds which got underway on 19 August. On the opening day, national record holder 3000m steeplechaser Sable failed to qualify for the final round after a seventh place finish in the heats. Three Indians brought up the rear in the men’s 20km race walk final while young Shaili Singh also failed to make it to the women’s long jump final. Ajay Kumar Saroj ran his personal best of three minutes 38.24 seconds in men’s 1500m heats but that was not enough to qualify for the semifinals, while none of the three Indians in the men’s triple jump – Praveen Chithravel, Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker – made it to the final round. On Sunday, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan and Sarvesh Anil Kushare had crashed out in the 400m hurdles heats and high jump qualification rounds respectively. National record holder 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji failed to qualify for the semi-finals on Tuesday as she finished seventh in her heat. She clocked 13.05 seconds – well below her national record of 12.78s.