Dev Meena, who rewrote pole vault national record, has one request: ‘please allow my poles in flights’

It was nearly twilight when Dev Meena soared over 5.35 metres to rewrite his own national record in the men’s pole vault and establish himself as the country’s brightest talent in the highly technical event.

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The pole vault, the first event of the afternoon session, began at 2:30 pm. By the time Meena set the new mark, his torso and hip well over the bar, it was nearly 5:45 pm. Eight finals were completed during this time. Meena was the only athlete to break a national record.

Till four years ago pole vault was not on Dev Meena’s mind. He was a new inductee, focussed on the 400 metres, atthe MP State Sports Academy in TT Nagar, Bhopal. But things were not going his way on the track and the farmer's son from Khede village in Dewas district was on the verge of looking at another career choice.Then came coach Ghanshyam Yadav. The coach is just 29 now, but he was entrusted with building a pole-vault talent pool and in Meena he spotted a flexible and strong athlete. One of Yadav's selling points was the lesser competition in pole vault compared to the 400 metres.Meena took the plunge and it has been rewarding. Tuesday was the second time this year that Meena broke the national record. If not for a light drizzle, Meena felt he could have cleared 5.45 metres. “I didn’t want to risk injury because the grip was slipping and | had to change the grip often,” Meena said. The 24-year-old was way ahead of the competition. M Gowtham, the silver medalist, finished at 5.15m.