Indian track and field seems to refuse to want to take a breather. After the high of Saturday evening, when three athletics records fell in the space of an hour, national marks continued to tumble on Sunday evening at the Federation Cup in Ranchi.
In the space of about 10 minutes, two national records were broken and then equalled in the men’s pole vault.
First, Dev Meena cleared 5.42m to break the national record of 5.41m, set just last month by his training partner Kuldeep Kumar. Dev started to celebrate, but the celebrations were short-lived. In his very next jump, Kuldeep raised the bar by three centimetres and then vaulted the height of 5.45m to reclaim his national record. Then, before the crowd at the Birsa Munda stadium had the time to process what had just happened, Dev charged down the runway and cleared that same mark to equal the national record.
Both then attempted 5.50m but couldn’t clear the mark. Meena won the gold medal on countback as his second-best attempt was 5.42m, while Kuldeep’s was 5.30m, but both—in a first in Indian athletics—shared the national record.
The final result wasn’t exactly what Ghanshyam Yadav, who coaches both men in Bhopal had hoped for.
“Our goal coming to Ranchi was to clear 5.50m,” he says.
But what would have satisfied him was how both jumpers ended up egging each other to achieve feats greater than what they might have done alone. That was precisely the reason the two jumpers even began to train together.
It was around a year ago, when Dev, then 20, was asked by coach Ghanshyam whether he would mind if another athlete joined their training group in Bhopal.
At that point, Dev was already the best jumper in India by some distance—having set and subsequently broken his own national record. Kuldeep—the athlete who wanted to train alongside him—on the other hand, had once been a junior national record holder but had found the move to the senior level hard as he struggled to find a stable training base.
Training partner
At the time, Ghanshyam was uncertain about adding another variable to their training mix and wanted to know what Dev thought. Dev immediately agreed.
“When coach asked me if Kuldeep could train with us, I immediately said he should. Akela akela kaisa chalega pole vault (You can’t just do the pole vault by yourself; you always need someone to push you),” he says.
Dev had known Kuldeep, who is a year older, from his junior days.
“We have seen each other since the days when we were jumping 4.60m at the juniors. We have always competed hard but have always been friends as well,” Dev says.
When that camaraderie, combined with competition, resumed once again in Bhopal, coach Ghanshyam immediately knew he had something good on his hands. “When you have two very strong pole vaulters training together, they constantly push each other to improve in ways they couldn’t always do by themselves,” he said on Sunday.
While they are the same height—179cm tall—and build, and less than a year apart in age, both jumpers are distinct; Dev relies on speed while Kuldeep uses power to push himself over the bar.
At the same time, both have qualities the other looks to emulate.
“Dev’s technique is good. My technique is a little unbalanced,” says Kuldeep. Dev, on the other hand, says he is a fan of Kuldeep’s strength.
“Kuldeep has a very powerful body. I find it impressive that even with a little less speed, he is able to use his power to get such heights,” he says.
Since the time they started training together, both have benefited. Dev broke his national record for the third time with a jump of 5.40m at the World University Games last July. This year, Kuldeep had his own taste of success, when he set a new national mark of 5.41m at the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault competition in Bhubaneswar last month. But it was clear to him that that mark would be a temporary placeholder.
‘Records don’t matter’
When he had spoken to Sportstar after that event, Kuldeep had explained how both he and Dev would try to push the record further. That’s how the competition in Ranchi played out. Both vaulters matched each other height for height before finally having to share the national record.
What was also heartening to see in Ranchi was that, while both are extremely competitive, they also have a great deal of respect for each other.
“Training is good because we fight in training. We also fight in competition. But we also support each other. When Kuldeep was jumping, I was clapping for him, and when I was equalling his national record, he was cheering for me as well,” says Dev.
While the fact that they share a national record is something unique in Indian athletics history, neither jumper makes too much of it. “The record by itself means nothing. They exist to be broken. It doesn’t matter who gets it. Today, I will have it, and tomorrow, Kuldeep will. What matters is jumping even higher,” says Dev.
Indeed, both athletes are already looking beyond what they’ve accomplished at the Federation Cup. They’ve gone past the Commonwealth Games qualification standard (5.25m) and matched the standard for the Asian Games (5.45m) set by the Athletics Federation of India at the start of the season. They’ll have to match the Asian Games Standard once more at the Inter-State Championships if they hope to become the first Indian pole vaulters to go to the Asiad. That indeed is the goal.
“Although we will have to do it once again at the Inter-State Championships, this result helps because it shows that our preparation has been good and that we can do a 5.45m jump in a competition. I would be happy if both jumpers can improve on this once again. If it is possible, I want them to be able to share the record at 5.50m or maybe even 5.60m,” says coach Ghanshyam.
Published on May 25, 2026