Selva Prabhu leaps to national record, wins NCAA Indoor silver

Chennai: From the high of a World Athletics U-20 Championships silver medal in 2022 to the frustration of injury setbacks, triple jumper Selva Prabhu’s journey has been anything but smooth.

After multiple obstacles, the 21-year-old clinched silver with a national record of 17.05m at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, North Carolina, last week. Selva, a student at Kansas State University, took the collegiate route in Feb last year, and in his one-year stay so far in the USA, he has been injury-free. The athlete from Madurai finished fifth at the NCAA Outdoors last year, and he believes that breaching the 17m mark in the Indoors is just the start of what is in store for the season.

Selva consistently hit the 16.50m mark in the three competitions prior to NCAA Indoors. “My main focus this year is on the Commonwealth and Asian Games. I wanted to be fit for the NCAA Indoors and cross the 17m mark, which I managed to do. The off-season went really well, as we focused extensively on running (hill training). The volume of running I did was quite high, and compared to my training in India, where I focused mainly on jumps, this was a big change,” Selva told TOI from the USA. To secure a place in the CWG, Selva must compete in the Federation Cup in May. He is expected to travel to India next month for events along with the CWG qualifiers.