KOCHI: In long jump geometry, progress is rarely linear. For Shahnavaz Khan, the trajectory curved sharply upwards. Nowhere was this more evident than 11 days ago at the U-20 Federation Cup in Tumkur, Karnataka, where the 18-year-old soared to a height of 8.23m to eclipse Murali Sreeshankar’s junior national record of 8.20m set in 2018. “Sreeshankar bhaiyya congratulated me after my jump in Tumkur. He is my senior, someone I respect,” Shahnavaz told TOI.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!For Shahnavaz, the wave did not start in Tumkur. The telltale signs were evident in Bhubaneswar last year where the Uttar Pradesh native broke the 8m mark for the first time, landing at 8.04m on the Continental Tour. Bhubaneswar has since assumed considerable importance for the adolescent Pratapgarh.
Watch
This is what my mother wanted’: The story behind Lokesh Sathyanathan’s 8.21m jump“It is my happy place where I recorded my two personal bests. I cleared 8m there for the first time. Now I want to go back to Bhubaneswar and break Tumkur’s mark at Inter-State,” he explains.The journey from Tumkur leads through a challenging calendar. The inter-state championships in Bhubaneswar in June double up as the final selection trials for the Asian Games in Japan this September.Should he qualify, the World Junior Championships in Eugene, USA in August will follow, with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics a distant but firm horizon towards which the whole program is geared. “My immediate goal is to qualify for the Asian Games and come back with a medal around my neck,” says Shahnavaz.Behind his rise is coach Bhupinder Singh, whose approach combines a scientific temperament and patience with a refusal to box athletes into templates.Their partnership began in 2024 when Shahnavaz arrived raw and eager. The transformation since then has been physical and mental. “He’s taller today and more aware of his body,” notes Singh. “The biggest change is in his mind.This mental clarity is forged at the SAI Center of Excellence in Thiruvananthapuram, where training sessions are built with almost surgical intent. Refining sprint mechanics, sharpening take-off drills and layering explosive power through heavy lifts and endurance work. Singh reckons his department can now consistently operate in the 8.20m range, with 8.50m as the next limit.But what no training matrix fully captures is what Singh calls junoon. There is a story from the Thiruvananthapuram session earlier this year that Singh still talks about.Shahnavaz has already completed his prescribed intermediate tests for the day, but the teenager is trying for one last burst of energy as the final jump just didn’t feel right. It’s this searing intensity that comes through most vividly in high-octane competition.On Shahnavaz’s plaque in Tumkur, Singh offers, “Records are always meant to be broken.” And if the 18-year-old holds his own, he intends to continue to prove it. “We are working on LA 2028,” adds Singh. “That’s a long-term goal.For Shahnavaz, the horizon keeps getting closer: from the sandbox in Bhubaneswar to a medal waiting to be won in Japan. The geometry curves upwards.
