CWG: Through a decathlon rollercoaster, Tejaswin Shankar secures historic bronze

“1500m is all about mental resolve. Running technique or speed doesn’t matter. It is about how much you can hold on to as it feels like body parts are coming apart,” Tejaswin had told this paper after setting new national record of 8057 at Federation Cup in Ranchi.

Tejaswin surely held on to everything including a flared up patellar tendinitis also known as ‘Jumper’s knee’.

India’s Tejaswin Shankar competes in the men’s decathlon long jump at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Rollercoaster sequence

Slated to participate in high jump, Tejaswin Shankar pulled out after failing to clear 2.05m due to the sharp pain in the knee.

“This is one day you don’t want the pain to surface. I hope I can recover for the Decathlon as I have two days,” he had said after the high jump event.

Athletics fans around the nation held their breath as Wayne Lombard and Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala worked on the flared up knee.

When Tejaswin started the Decathlon with a 10.96s in 100m event, it looked that the knee was troubling. But by the second event of long jump came, he proved that he ain’t going anywhere.

Tejaswin produced a big personal best in the long jump to record 7.82m and improve his previous personal best of 7.67m. He gained 1015 points for the effort placing him at the second spot.

In the shot put, he again came up with an average show recording a best throw of 13.09m in his three attempts to finish the event in seventh place. The effort earned him 673 points, which further dropped him to 5th place in the overall standings after three events, with a total of 2,558 points.

Then came the high jump, Shankar’s strong suit. With a personal best of 2.29m, he usually earns a lot of points in the event.

India’s Tejaswin Shankar reacts as he competes in the Men’s Decathlon Javelin Throw at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

But due to his knee, he recorded a best jump of 2.15m earning a total of 944 points. He finished the event with a good 15-centimetre lead over the next competitor and moved to second position with 3502 points after four events.

In the last event of the day which is 400m, Tejaswin was far away from his personal best of 48.29s but with a timing of 49.51s, he ensured that he finished the day in second spot with 4339 points just behind Tokyo Olympic champion Damian Warner

After the end of the day 1, he told media that it felt like bear was on his back in the last stretch of 400m.

He started Day 2 with 14.41s timing in the 110m and remained at the second spot with 5261 points.

Like he did on the first day, in the second day of the event, he produced a personal best. Tejaswin first threw 39.66m to improve his PB and then recorded 40.44m in the last attempt to score 674 points and stay at second with 5935.

Up next was his weakest event, the Pole Vault. Tejaswin cleared 4.30m with much ease and scored 702 points but others moved up in the field with higher clearances.

After eight events, Tejaswin was placed fourth with 6637 points trailing Sammy Ball on third with 6650 points.

Victor secured his gold medal in the Javelin throw with massive 63.06 throw and a big lead over second place Warner while Tejaswin threw season best of 53.12m to move back in medal position with 7272 points.

As Ball trailed by 109 points, he needed a big personal best in 1500m while Tejaswin just needed to hold on.

Surely he did with 704 points in the last run and India’s biggest-ever Decathlon medal.

Tejaswin is also the first Indian to win medals in 2 different events in Athletics in CWG history. Earlier, he won a bronze medal in men’s high jump in the 2022 edition.