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Bring on the PodCats with NCAA High Jump champion Tejaswin Shankar

The latest product of High Jump U chatted with us about why he went from cricket to high jumping and his plans to get even better after a sensational freshman season.

By Luke Thompson and wildcat00
Athletics - Commonwealth Games Day 7
Tejaswin Shankar took sixth at the Commonwealth Games before winning the NCAA title.
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

Editor’s note: TJ was somewhat muffled and hard to understand for he first half of this podcast, through no fault of his own. We hope you’ll try to listen anyway, and at about halfway through (the 15:14 mark) he becomes much clearer.

Tejaswin Shankar is Kansas State’s fifth national high jump champion (six if you count indoor) and he might be the most unlikely. The Indian national record holder tells us how he grew up playing cricket before switching over to track and field, which wasn’t an easy decision.

But it’s safe to say everything worked out and he took us through his Eugene experience, capped off by the winning jump on his final attempt to clear the height everyone else had missed three time. Now Tejaswin, known as TJ to his teammates, has his sights set on even larger goals, such as jumping 2.30 meters, winning another NCAA title, and eventually, making the 2020 Summer Olympics.

We hope you’ll check out this very special podcast with one of K-State’s most outstanding student-athletes.


Another editor’s note: For those who don’t know, when TJ talks about the height of his jumps, he’s talking in centimeters. So his winning jump of 224 centimeters equals about 7-4.25, 230 centimeters equals a little more than 7-5.5, and the K-State record of 237 centimeters set by Erik Kynard equals about 7.77 feet.

If you enjoy listening to Bring on the PodCats, don’t forget it’s now available on iTunes (search Bring on the PodCats). Check it out, subscribe and review. We would appreciate it.