2 min readMay 3, 2026 10:49 PM IST
Tamil Nadu pole vaulter Baranica Elangovan has found a new happy hunting ground at the Kalinga Indoor Athletics Stadium as she improved her five-week-old own national record during the inaugural Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault Competition on Sunday.
Baranica cleared 4.23m to better her own previous national record of 4.22m set at the inaugural edition of National Indoor Championships held in the last week of March at the same venue. The 29-year-old crossed 4.23m on her third attempt.”It was another good day for me,” said Baranica who has shifted base from Tamil Nadu to Bhubaneswar.
Earlier in March, she crossed the 4.22m mark to break it for the first time. “It was an emotional moment for us because we have been trying so hard for the past three years to break the national record,” Baranica had told the Indian Express.
Her dream to become the best pole vaulter in the country didn’t come true earlier because of an injury setback. Six years ago an ACL reconstructive surgery to her left leg, the one she takes off with, set her back. After struggling with pain post-surgery for three years, she found the physios who worked miracles at the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar. “The physios and the advanced machines at the centre were really helpful. Before moving to Bhubaneswar, my performances were up and down because I had pain on and off,” Baranica said.
At this event, both men’s and women’s pole vault event were rewritten with Kuldeep Kumar soaring past 5.41m to break the previous national record of 5.40m set by Dev Meena.
In men’s heptathlon, N Thowfeeq of NCOE Trivandrum took the gold with 5350. He was leading on Day One with 2943 points.
Kirthik Vasan S of Tamil Nadu won the men’s U20 heptathlon title with 4609 points.
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Purnima Hembram of Odisha was the winner in women’s pentathlon. She secured 3835 points. The women’s U20 pentathlon title went to Jaskiran Kaur of Uttarakhand. Her points tally was 3272.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
