Arizona [US], May 5 : Indian high jump athlete Tejaswin Shankar secured the men's high jump title at the USATF Throws Festival 2024 held in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday.
Shankar won the title with the season's best-equalling effort of 2.23-metre, as per Olympics.com.
Interestingly, the top three jumpers each recorded the 2.23 m mark, with Earnest Sears of the USA finishing second and Roberto Vilches of Mexico getting the third spot.
Tejaswin's personal best is 2.29 m, which is also a national-level record that he accomplished back in 2018.
The USATF Throws Festival is a silver-level meet in the World Athletics Continental Tour. Performances at these events help athletes earn Olympic Ranking Points ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024, taking place in July-August this year.
Only 32 athletes. with a maximum of three per country, can qualify for the men's high jump event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. They can earn the quotas by either achieving the entry standard within the qualification period or based on their world rankings.
So far, nine athletes have made it to the Paris Olympics by securing the qualification standard of 2.33 m.
The 25-year-old Shankar, who has played in five events this year, is currently at world number 63 ahead of the multi-sport event. Tejaswin has secured three meets this year, including the International High Jump Gala Elmos in Belgium in February, the Shocker Spring Invitational in Kansas in March.
Asian Athletics Championships silver medalist Sarvesh Kushare finished at the fifth spot with a jump of 2.13m, under his personal best of 2.27m and season best of 2.23m.
In Arizona, Kushare failed with all three attempts to clear the 2.18m mark.