Murali Sreeshankar bagged a silver medal with an 8.09m jump in the men's long jump event at Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow on July 29. This is Sreeshankar's first medal at a major event after his comeback from an injury in 2024 which led to him missing the Paris Olympics 2024. It is also Sreeshankar’s second CWG medal. He won a silver medal at the Birmingham CWG 2026 as well.
Murali was just one centimetre ahead of bronze medal winner Stephen Mackenzie who registered an 8.08m jump. The gold medal was bagged by Jamaica's Tajay Gayle with an 8.15m jump.
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Murali began with an 8.03m jump. In his second attempt, he jumped 8.09m putting him in the lead. He fouled on the third attempt but still remained in the lead. But, Gayle broke the shackles in his fourth attempt with an 8.15 jump. Sreeshankar wasn't able to match or better it in his last two attempts.
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Sreeshankar unsatisfied with silver
Sreeshankar was not satisfied after the silver medal finish. He was attempting to convert previous edition's silver into a gold in Glasgow. However, he is happy to be winning silver after the injury setback which threatened to end his career.
"We always aim for a gold medal performance. I am happy with the silver but not satisfied because this was not the jump I was expecting. I wanted to have a big jump and win the gold medal for my country, redeem the silver medal from Birmingham. But I'm happy, I'm being grateful, just being here representing my country at the Commonwealth Games, because I know what I've been through in the last two years, and thanks, everyone," Sreeshankar was quoted as saying by ANI after the win.
Sreeshankar well short of his recent best at CWG 2026
Despite the silver medal finish, Sreeshankar was far from delivering his best. He had registered an 8.38m jump at the Inter State National Championships in June 2026.
Lokesh's 1st attempt leads to 5th place finish
The only other Indian at the event was Lokesh Sathyanathan. His best jump was 7.97m. He couldn't better his first jump and finished fifth.