Kuldeep Kumar produced a composed performance to beat national record holder Dev Meena on countback in the men’s pole vault event in the second Indian Athletics Series 2026 in Jaipur on Sunday.
Both Kuldeep Kumar and Dev Meena cleared 5.25m on their first attempt but the former clinched the top spot on earlier countbacks. Avneesh Kumar completed the top three with a 5.00m jump.
The national record in men’s pole vault stands at 5.40m, set by Meena at the World University Games in Germany last year.
Both Meena and Kuldeep attempted 5.41m in pursuit of a new record but were unable to go past the bar. Kuldeep, nevertheless, equalled his personal best.
The Jaipur meet marked the second stop in the 16-event Indian Athletics Series introduced by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) this season. The one-day event featured a full slate of track and field finals.
Yashvir Singh claimed the victory in the men’s javelin throw event with a best effort of 77.00m.
KM Deeksha, who holds the national record of 4:04.78 in women’s 1500m, clocked 4:25.74 for the top spot in Jaipur.
The series now moves to New Delhi and Ranchi for its next two legs, scheduled over the upcoming weekend.
Indian Athletics Series 2 2026 Jaipur winners
- Men’s hammer throw: 1. Ashish Jakhar (65.99m); 2. Devang (63.38m); 3. Sachin Yadav (61.79m)
- Men’s pole vault: 1. Kuldeep Kumar (5.25m); 2. Dev Meena (5.25m); 3. Avneesh Kumar (5.00m)
- Men’s 1500m: 1. Sonu (3:43.70); 2. Prakash Kumar (3:48.65); 3. Ritik Deol (3:49.92)
- Women’s high jump: 1. Payal Jamod (1.71m); 2. Seema Kumari (NM)
- Men’s shot put: 1. Adarsh Sanjeev Khanna (16.86m); 2. Armaandeep Singh (16.67m); 3. Ankur Dixit (16.17m)
- Men’s long jump: 1. Mohd Atta Sazid (7.63m); 2. Pradeep Kumar (7.05m); 3. Yash Paresh Khanvilkar (6.95m)
- Women’s 1500m: 1. KM Deeksha (4:25.74); 2. Shilpa Dihora (4:34.47); 3. Shivechha Vikas Patil (4:37.33)
- Men’s 400m: 1. Vikrant Panchal (46.98s); 2. Boopathi R (47.17s); 3. Kapil Raika (47.53s)
- Women’s 400m: 1. Anchal Rani (54.99s); 2. Rishita Kaur (55.74s); 3. Madhura Tushar Birje (56.40s)
- Women’s long jump: 1. Priya Rathore (6.05m); 2. Pariksha (5.94m); 3. Soniya (5.68m)
- Women’s 100m hurdles: 1. Puja Koleypandit (14.93s); 2. Priyanka (15.65s)
- Women’s shot put: 1. Kachnar Chaudhary (15.75m); 2. Suman Sharma (15.09m); 3. Kavita Kumari (13.74m)
- Men’s 110m hurdles: 1. Shivdarshan (14.99s); 2. Pankaj Pal Sahu (15.40s); 3. Mukul (15.55s)
- Women’s hammer throw: 1. Tanya Chaudhary (62.18m); 2. Manpreet Kaur (59.37m); 3. Kulvinder Kaur (54.26m)
- Women’s pole vault: 1. Babita Patel (3.80m); 2. Nitika Anup Akare (3.80m); 3. Archana Singh (3.70m)
- Men’s high jump: 1. Sunil Kumar (2.05m); 2. Adityansh Singh (2.00m); 3. Aaditya Raghuvanshi (2.00m)
- Men’s 100m: 1. Rohit (10.63s); 2. Harsh Santosh Raut (10.70s); 3. Aaditya Tomar (10.75s)
- Women’s javelin throw: 1. Uma Choudhary (47.02m); 2. Khushee Yadav (46.68m); 3. Manpreet Kaur Gurja (44.18m)
- Men’s javelin throw: 1. Yashvir Singh (77.00m); 2. Mangal Singh (67.94m); 3. Gyan Ranjan Mahato (67.48m)
- Men’s triple jump: 1. Dablu Roy (15.63m); 2. Jagseer Singh (15.31m); 3. Krishna (14.78m)
- Men’s 3000m steeplechase: 1. Jujhar Singh (9:05.87); 2. Anupam (9:07.74); 3. Rahul Phartyal (9:09.70)
- Women’s 3000m steeplechase: 1. Anju (10:27.70); 2. Komal Chandrakant J (10:28.77); 3. Khushbu Gupta (10:44.76)
- Women’s triple jump: 1. Rinku Choudhary (12.29m); 2. Preeti (12.17m); 3. Anamika (11.57m)
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-series-2-jaipur-2026-report-results
