3 min readJan 31, 2026 05:15 PM IST Tejaswin Shankar, India’s high jump national record holder, defeated Paris Olympics silver medallist Shelby McEwen to win the gold medal at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, a World Athletics Bronze Meet in Manhattan, Kansas on Friday. Featuring in his first Athletics meet of the year, Shankar recorded a best jump of 2.26m to edge past the home favourite Shelby who settled for silver with a best jump of 2.22m. This win will be helpful for Shankar in accumulating crucial ranking points for the World Indoor Championships qualification. He is participating in the Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, China next month where he will feature in the heptathlon event. Training in US Earlier this month, Shankar packed his bags and left for Manhattan for his second stint at KSU to do a Masters in kinesiology and exercise science. He aims to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and trains with a group of decathletes coached by Kip Janvrin, a former Pan American Games gold medallist. “I have a …