Dev Kumar Meena won gold in pole vault record

Dev Kumar Meena (ANI Photo) Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar produced one of the highlights of the National Senior Athletics Federation competition after both athletes broke the national pole vault record in a dramatic match on Sunday. The two training partners, who represented Madhya Pradesh, cleared 5.45m, bettering the previous national record of 5.41m set by Kuldeep Kumar in Bhubaneswar recently. Despite both athletes clearing the same height, Dev Kumar Meena secured the gold medal through the countdown rules while Kuldeep settled for silver. In the pole vault and high jump, the countdown is used to separate athletes tied at the same height by checking who cleared the mark in fewer attempts during the competition. The result marked a huge milestone for Indian athletics, with both vaulters also comfortably breaching the qualification standard of 5.25m for the 2026 edition of the Athletics Federation of India Commonwealth Games. After the event, Dev Kumar highlighted the healthy rivalry and friendship between the pair. “It was a good day for us and we will continue to push each other to raise the bar further in the future,” he said. While the focus was mainly on the sprinters on Saturday, Sunday’s events were dominated by the off-road events and some impressive performances across the disciplines. Murali Sreeshankar secured gold in the men’s long jump with a performance of 8.08m, surpassing the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 8.05m. In the men’s high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare produced another outstanding performance as he cleared 2.28m to win gold and qualify for the Commonwealth Games. His jump also equaled the event record previously set by Tejaswin Shankar. Kushare even attempted 2.30m in an attempt to better the national record of 2.29m, but failed to clear the height in all three attempts. Silver medalist Aadarsh ​​Ram also broke the CWG qualifying standard after clearing 2.22m. Meanwhile, national record holder Tejas Shirse dominated the men’s 110m hurdles final. Shirse, representing Reliance, clocked 13.50 seconds to win the gold and better his own event record of 13.61 seconds, although he narrowly missed the Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 13.39 seconds. Earlier in the day, Ravina claimed gold in the women’s 10,000m walk in 44:29.66 seconds, comfortably under the CWG qualifying standard of 44:44.58 seconds. Other gold medalists included Dharamraj Yadav in the men’s discus throw and Manpreet Kaur in the women’s hammer throw, while Nandhini K won the women’s 100m hurdles title.