Long jumper Shaili falls short of historic gold by 1cm, settles for silver in Kenya

Long jumper Shaili Singh after finishing second at the U-20 World Athletics C’ships at Nairobi yesterday

Highly talented long jumper Shaili Singh on Sunday missed out on scripting history by a mere 1cm as she settled for a silver in the U-20 World Athletics Championships here. The Indian's personal best effort of 6.59m was not enough for a gold as she was pipped to the post by Sweden's reigning European junior champion Maja Askag, 18, who managed 6.60m for the top spot on the final day of the championships.

A protege of legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George, Shaili was leading at the end of the third round but the Swede overtook her in the fourth round by a mere 1cm which proved to be decisive in the end.

Mum's words

Mariia Horielova of Ukraine took the bronze with a best jump of 6.50m. "I could have jumped farther than the 6.59m and won the gold. My mother had told me about winning gold and national anthem being sung in the stadium [but I could not do it]," an emotional Shaili said after the race.

"I am just 17, I want a gold in next U20 World Championships [in Cali, Colombia]. There is also Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year and I want to do well in those events."

Technical issue

Her coach Booby George said she had a bit off a technical issue while landing, otherwise she would have won the gold. "She was weeping [after the event], she knew she could have won the gold. There was a bit of a technical issue while landing, otherwise she could have cleared 6.65m or even 6.70m," said George.

"It is the first time she is not winning a gold in any competition. She hates silver and she is the next big thing after Neeraj Chopra." India ended their campaign with a best ever medal haul of two silver and one bronze, though the country had won one gold each in the earlier two editions - by Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra (2016) and quartermiler Hima Das (2018). The mixed 4x400m relay quartet and 10,000m race walker Amit Khatri had earlier won a bronze and a silver respectively in this championships.

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