Sarvesh Kushare created history on Sunday by qualifying for the men’s high jump final at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, becoming the first Indian high jumper in history to earn a ticket to the medal round of the global showpiece.
The Indian athlete cleared 2.25m to make it to the final, which will take place on Tuesday.
In the Tokyo25 high jump, the automatic qualifying mark was 2.30m, while the top 12 performers across both qualifying groups advancing to the final.
Kushare’s leap in the qualifiers was 0.02m less than his personal best of 2.27m, which he achieved in Gujarat in 2022. It was also 0.01m shy of his season’s best jump of 2.26m from the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in April.
Tejaswin Shankar holds the high jump national record with 2.29m.
Meanwhile, Gulveer Singh finished 16th in the men’s 10000m race with a time of 29:13.33.
Gulveer Singh’s time was two minutes more than his personal best and national record time of 27:00.22, which he clocked in a California meet earlier this year.
He will also be competing in the men’s 5000m event, which is scheduled to begin with the heats on Friday and then the final next Sunday if he qualifies.
Frenchman Jimmy Gressier won the 10000m gold medal with a season-best time of 28:55. Olympian Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia took silver with 28:55.83, while Sweden’s Andreas Almgren was third after clocking 28:56.02.
India’s athletics contingent for Tokyo25 comprises 14 men and five women, who will compete for medals across 15 events.
India have only won three medals at the World Athletics Championships so far.
Anju Bobby George won long jump bronze at Paris 2003, while Neeraj Chopra claimed javelin silver at Oregon 2022 and followed it up with a historic gold at Budapest.