Baranica Elangovan breaks pole vault national record

CHENNAI: Pole vaulter Baranica Elangovan from Tamil Nadu shattered the national record by leaping 4.22m and earning the gold medal in the inaugural National Indoor Athletics competition in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The previous national record of 4.21m was held by her statemate, Rosy Meena Paulraj, which was set in 2022.Twenty-nine year-old Baranica had been chasing the national record for quite some time and on Tuesday, she finally achieved it on her first attempt at that height. Overwhelmed with joy, she ran straight to celebrate the moment with her coach, Milber Russell, who has been guiding her for the past eight years. Milber was ecstatic with his ward’s performance. “All those years of hard work has finally paid off and I am not able to express my feelings now. What we focused on in the pre-season was her speed on the runway and nothing else and it has helped,” Milber told TOI from Bhubaneswar.“As a coach, I did not expect this performance, as she was using a lower-resistance pole and we had not focused on technique. After clearing 4.10m, I told her not to have any expectations at 4.22m and to attempt one jump with proper technique. It worked out well.”