World Athletics Championships 2022: Long jumper Jeswin Aldrin called up for final selection trial

Days after being snubbed for India’s 2022 World Athletics Championship squad, long jumper Jeswin Aldrin has been handed another shot at making the team for the big-ticket event after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) invited him for a selection trial at NIS Patiala on July 4.

The chief national coach, Radhakrishnan Nair, sent a letter to Jeswin Aldrin regarding the trial and set a target of “close to 8.10m” for his selection. The world athletics championships 2022 will be held from July 15 to 22 in Oregon, USA.

The 20-year-old Jeswin Aldrin was earlier left out of India’s world athletics championships squad due to his dwindling form.

Aldrin had begun his season well, notching an 8.26m jump at the Federation Cup in April to breach the 8.22m qualification mark set for the worlds. The youngster also recorded a wind-assisted 8.37m attempt to win the event. 

The 8.26m jump remains the seventh-best effort in the world this season.

However, Jeswin Aldrin performances dipped significantly in the subsequent events as he failed to hit the 8m mark in the next three competitions.

In May, the Tamil Nadu athlete competed internationally in Spain and Italy but could only come up with 7.82m and 7.69m in the two events.

A month later, Jeswin Aldrin registered a dismal 7.71m in the qualifying round and 7.51m in the final of the National Inter-State Championships, which was considered as the final selection trial for the world championships.

Thus, the youngster was not chosen for the

Commonwealth Games 2022 as well. Instead, national record holder Murali Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees Yahiya were given the ticket for both the worlds and CWG.

If Jeswin Aldrin makes the cut at the selection trial on July 4, he will be making his world athletics championships debut.