Tejaswin Shankar Biography

Tejaswin Shankar, an Indian athlete who takes part in the decathlon competition, was born on December 21, of the year 1998. Shankar set the 2.29-meter national high jump record in the month of April of the year 2018.

Early and Personal Life

Shankar was born into a Tamil household on December 21, of the year 1998, in Delhi. Tejaswin Shankar is a native of South Delhi’s Saket. At the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi, where he attended school, he competed in cricket up until the 8th grade, when his physical education instructor suggested he switched to high jumping.

Tejaswin Shankar immediately began taking home prizes in interschool competitions. In 2014, his lawyer father Harishankar passed away from blood cancer.

At Kansas State University, where he studied business administration, Shankar was awarded a four-year sports scholarship in the year 2017. Tejaswin Shankar has a business profession in the US, working for Deloitte, which is seen as an unusual career choice for an active athlete.

Career

Shankar set a new Games record of 2.14 meters to win the gold medal at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia. With a leap of 2.17 meters, Tejaswin Shankar captured silver at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati. Tejaswin Shankar missed the World Junior Championships in the year 2016 and placed sixth in the Asian Junior Championships due to a groin injury.

At the age of 17, Shankar gained notoriety when, in November 2016, at the Junior National Championships in Coimbatore, he broke Hari Shankar Roy’s 12-year-old national record of 2.25 meters with a jump of 2.26 meters. In the global rankings for junior high jumpers that year, Tejaswin Shankar was ranked third. Due to a slipped disc, he was bedridden for six months in 2017.

With a mark of 2.18 meters in January 2018, Shankar broke Roy’s indoor national record; the following month, he improved it by one centimeter. Tejaswin Shankar further broke his indoor record in February at the Big 12 Indoor Athletics Championships in Ames with a leap of 2.28 meters.

Shankar qualified for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and placed sixth there. By leaping 2.28 meters at the 22nd Federation Cup Indian Championships in Patiala in March 2018, Shankar broke his own national record.

The qualifying performance for the Commonwealth Games was tied for best. While competing for K-State athletics, Tejaswin Shankar further broke his country record by an additional centimeter, leaping 2.29 meters in April 2018 at the Texas Tech Invite.

Despite passing the qualification level, Shankar was first passed over for the 2022 Commonwealth Games contingent. Shankar then sued the Athletics Federation of India and was eventually replaced.

With a leap of 2.22 meters, Tejaswin Shankar won the bronze medal at the competition in Birmingham, earning India its first-ever high jump medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Bio Data

Full Name: Tejaswin Shankar

Born: 21 December 1998

Age: 24 Years

Place of Birth: Delhi, India

Height: 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)

Weight: 81 kg (179 lb)

Country: India

Event(s): High jump, Decathlon

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