Dev Kumar Meena Wins Gold, Both Set National Pole Vault Record

At the National Senior Athletics Federation Competition, Dev Kumar Meena secured gold in pole vault, with both he and Kuldeep Kumar setting a new national record, while other athletes achieved Commonwealth Games qualification marks.

Madhya Pradesh pole vaulters Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar both lowered the national record with identical efforts of 5.45m but the former walked away with the gold after an intense showdown on the third and penultimate day of the National Senior Athletics Federation Competition here on Sunday.

The previous record itself -- 5.41m -- was set recently by Kuldeep Kumar in Bhubaneswar.

Though both the athletes scaled 5.45m, Dev Kumar Meena walked away with the gold medal on countback. Kuldeep Kumar settled for silver.

Pole Vault Countback Rule Explained

A countback is the tie-breaking rule used in pole vault and high jump events when two or more athletes clear the same height. It determines the winner by looking at who took the fewest attempts during the competition to clear that height.

Both of them also achieved the 2026 Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 5.25m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

Training partners and close friends, Dev Kumar and Kuldeep's next goal is to repeat their performance at the international level.

"It was a good day for us and we will continue to push each other to further raise the bar in future," a jubilant Dev Kumar said after winning the gold on Sunday.

Other Highlights from the Athletics Meet

If the spotlight was on sprinters on Saturday, the main attraction on Sunday was field events.

At the long jump pit, Murali Sreeshankar won the gold medal with a jump of 8.08m which was better than the CWG qualification mark of 8.05m.

Sarvesh Anil Kushare of Maharashtra dominated the men's high jump. His gold-medal winning performance of 2.28m was better than the CWG qualification mark of 2.22m.

Kushare also equalled the meet record set earlier by Tejaswin Shankar. He also raised the bar to 2.30m to improve the national record of 2.29m but missed all three attempts.

Aadarsh Ram (2.22m), winner of silver medal, also achieved the CWG qualification mark.

Hurdles and Race Walk Results

The men's 110m hurdles was dominated by national record holder Tejas Shirse representing Reliance. His gold-winning time was 13.50 seconds. He improved his own meet record of 13.61 seconds but missed out the CWG qualification time of 13.39 seconds.

Earlier in the morning session, Ravina of Haryana won the gold medal in the women's 10,000m race walk with a time of 44:29.66 seconds which was better than the Commonwealth Games qualification time of 44:44.58 seconds.

Results:

Men: 1500m: Rahul Baloda (Rajasthan) 3:40.06 secs, Sakir (Haryana) 3:40.83 secs, Ajay Kumar Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:40.92 secs.

110m hurdles: Tejas Ashok Shirse (Reliance) 13.50 seconds, Krishik M (Reliance) 13.52 secs, Muhammed Lazan (Navy) 13.83 secs.

Pole vault: Dev Kumar Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.45m, Kuldeep Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) 5.45m, Reegan G (Tamil Nadu) 5.15m.

High jump: Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.28m, Aadarsh Ram (Tamil Nadu) 2.22m, Sudeep (Karnataka) 2.12m.

Long jump: M Sreeshankar (NCOE Trivandrum) 8.08m, S Lokesh (Reliance) 7.94m, Mohd Atta Sazid (Haryana) 7.90m.

Discus throw: Dharamraj Yadav (Army) 55.20m, Bhartpreet Singh (Navy) 54.62m, Oinam Alson Singh (NCOE Patiala) 53.52m.

Women: 100m hurdles: Nandhini K (Tamil Nadu) 13.24 secs, Pragyan Prashanti Sahu (Odisha) 13.33 secs, Anjali C (JSW) 13.35 secs.

10,000m race walk: Ravina (Haryana) 44:29.66 secs, Reshma Patel (All India Police) 44:57.94 secs, Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh) 45:23.92 secs.

Hammer throw: Manpreet kaur (Punjab) 59.08m, Kulvinder Kaur (Railways Sports) 57.76m, Divya Shandilya (Odisha) 56.41m.