No Indian had ever set the bar at 2.31m before Sarvesh Kushare. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

You know just how special an accomplishment is when it’s not just the athlete performing it, but all his opponents who celebrate that moment. As Sarvesh Kushare leaned back to start his run up late in the high jump competition at the Inter State Athletics Championships on Saturday evening, the rest of the field at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga stadium was clapping their hands and cheering him to urge him over the bar.

Just the attempt was a special one. The Indian record held by Tejaswin Shankar since 2018, stood at 2.29. Sarvesh had equalled his personal best of 2.28m earlier in the competition. But no Indian had ever set the bar at 2.31m.

At the Kalinga stadium, Sarvesh didn’t just do that. Running 14 paces in a sharp curve that actually leaned away from the bar, while steadily building up horizontal speed, he punched off his right foot and launched himself at the bar. The combination of horizontal speed along with the centrifugal force generated by running in the curve threw his body — first head and shoulders, then torso and hips and finally calves and heel — smoothly over the horizontal pole.

He bounced off the foam landing platform, punched his fist into the sky and then into the arms of his competitors who enveloped the new Indian national record holder in bear hugs.

2.31m.

By any stretch of imagination it’s a remarkable feat. For perspective, there are some 30 more sprinters who have clocked a sub 10 second 100m, than high jumpers who have jumped what Sarvesh had done. It’s a mark that would have won bronze at last year’s world championships.

According to the newly dethroned but still elated national record holder Tejaswin Shankar, just going past 2.30m is significant. “The fact that it’s a big round number is honestly what makes it so special. In the high jump world 2.30 is the benchmark for being globally accepted as a world class high jumper. It’s a tag you carry proudly. When someone looks at a start list and sees you are a 2.30+ guy they take notice worldwide. It’s a pretty big deal,” he says.

Having chased the mark himself over the course of his career, Tejaswin knows just how hard it is to surpass it. “I jumped 2.29m in 2018. In the eight years since then, I’ve not gone past that.”

Sarvesh knows this too. “I jumped 2.26m for the first time in 2019. It’s taken 7 years to go from there past 2.30,” he told Sportstar after his competition

The challenge of improvement is made harder by the nature of the high jump event. “Unfortunately, in the high you can’t make a jump and then see how far you have gone. You could have a 2.30m plus jump, but it might have come when the bar was set at 2.28m. And when you do set the bar at 2.31m (Like what Sarvesh did) you are forced to look at it and forced to feel the magnitude of all the things that you need to overcome before actually overcoming it. That’s why I think those events are really tough mentally,” he says.

For Sarvesh, 31, the list of all the things he would have had to overcome wouldn’t just have started on Saturday evening at the Kalinga Stadium.

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Makeshift pit

Growing up in Devargaon village in Nashik with a population of less than 3,000, Sarvesh’s father had wanted him to study and become an engineer. However, he was adamant on pursuing a career in the high jump. With no proper facility to train in their village, Sarvesh’s first coach used corn husk, agricultural waste, old unused clothes and cotton to prepare a makeshift pit that Sarvesh would leap into.

Sarvesh, whose national career began 12 years ago, would gone on to accomplish far greater things than anyone in Devargaon, would have ever hoped to have done.

He would emerge from Tejaswin Shankar’s shadow and become national champion in his own right. He would compete at the 2024 Olympics. Then at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, he’d do something few Indian athletes had done – make the final and eventually finish sixth.

All of that was impressive but Sarvesh – in the mark of a truly special athlete – wasn’t done just yet. He had his sights set on breaching the 2.30m barrier.

He had been chasing that mark for several years already. And there were enough naysayers to say why it couldn’t be done. At 1.79m, Sarvesh is very small for a high jumper – the overwhelming majority of whom are in the multiple inches over six-foot range.

He had been getting close on multiple occasions. After jumping 2.28m at the World Championships final late last year, he had repeated the mark once again at the Federation Cup in Ranchi last month. He had even attempted 2.30m in that competition but was unable to get the clearance he had hoped for after twisting his right ankle while making an earlier attempt.

On Saturday night there would be no stopping him. Both Sarvesh and his coach Jithin Thomas — himself a former Asian silver medallist in the high jump — knew that there was something special about to happen that day. Jithin noticed it first. “For two weeks before the competition, Sarvesh had become very quiet,” he says.

On the morning of the competition Jithin told Sarvesh that this was his day “Before the competition, coach told me no Indian has ever done 2.30. He said if you do it, you will be the first. As long as there is high jump in India, your name will be there as the one who got to 2.30 first,” Sarvesh recalls.

Sarvesh started with a clean jump at 2.12m, cleared 2.19m after one miss, then made successful clearances at 2.22m, 2.25m and 2.27m in his first attempt. He had already won the competition with his 2.27m clearance but then rather than try to equal the national record at 2.29, or go for the 2.30m mark, he immediately set the bar at 2.31m.

Psychological switch

“The reason behind this was purely psychological. I’ve attempted 2.30m a few times before and never got it. For many months, I had senior officials constantly ask me when I was going to get to 2.30. Maybe there was something about the number. So, I decided to go for 2.31m,” he says.

Perhaps a bit over eager, he clattered the bar in his first two attempts. Ahead of his final attempt though he composed himself. It was all up to him. “Normally the coach constantly tells me ho jayega, ho jayega. (It will happen; it will happen). But this time he was silent,” Sarvesh says.

On that final attempt everything went perfectly. While the result came when his heels finally crossed the bar, Tejaswin, watching the action from the USA where he is preparing for the decathlon says he knew the outcome would be successful three paces before Sarvesh took off. “You could tell that the rhythm of the run was spot on. For me, he made 2.31 three steps before he actually made it because that’s when I can tell he did all the things right for the curve to throw him over the bar,” Shankar says.

It might have been the first but Tejaswin says this won’t be the last time Sarvesh goes over 2.30m. “Honestly there’s nothing technically that changes between doing a 2.28m jump and 2.30m plus jump. It’s just a mental block and now that’s been overcome,” he says.

Indeed, after acknowledging the embraces of his compatriots and the cheers from the fans in the stands, Sarvesh set the bar at 2.35m. He made two more attempts, and although he missed both, it is clear he has found a new boundary to breach.

“When you jump over 2.30m, you know you will always be in contention for a medal at most international competitions. But when you jump 2.35m you are in the fight for a medal at the World Championships and Olympics (the gold medal winning jump at the 2024 Olympics and 2025 Worlds was 2.36m),” he says.

The journey from this point will only get harder but Sarvesh is up for it. “I’m improving a lot. The height is not an easy one but if your preparation is good, then nothing is impossible. I’ve never attempted 2.35 before but ho jayega (It will happen). I’ll try to get it at the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games,” he says.

Published on Jun 28, 2026