Baranica Elangovan Sets New National Record in Women’s Pole Vault at Bhubaneswar Indoor Meet

Bhubaneswar: Baranica Elangovan continued her record-breaking run at the indoor athletics meet, clearing 4.23m to set a new national record in the women’s pole vault at the indoor stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The 29-year-old athlete from Tamil Nadu bettered her own previous national mark of 4.22m, which she had set at the same venue during the National Indoor Athletics Championships in March. She achieved the new height on her third attempt, marking her second record improvement within five weeks. “It was another good day for me,” she said after her performance.

Now training in Bhubaneswar, Baranica has found consistent success at the venue, emerging as one of India’s top performers in women’s pole vault.

In other events, Thowfeeq N of NCOE Trivandrum clinched gold in the men’s heptathlon with a total of 5,350 points, maintaining his lead from Day One. Usaid Khan (5,288 points) and Odisha’s Jashbir Nayak (5,250 points) secured silver and bronze respectively.

In the men’s U20 heptathlon, Kirthik Vasan S of Tamil Nadu won gold with 4,609 points, followed by Jinoy Jayan (4,518 points) and Aryan Parkash (4,509 points).

The women’s pentathlon saw Odisha’s Purnima Hembram clinch gold with 3,835 points, ahead of Isha Chandra Prakash (3,671 points) and Bidisha Kundu (3,600 points).

In the women’s U20 pentathlon, Jaskiran Kaur of Uttarakhand secured the top position with 3,272 points, followed by Priya from Haryana and Alfaz Kaur Grewal from Punjab.

In the women’s pole vault event, Baranica took gold with her record-breaking jump, while Nitika (Madhya Pradesh) and Blessy Kunjumon (Kerala) shared the podium with identical efforts of 3.90m.