Mumbai: In the first month that Tejaswin Shankar went from being a full-time athlete to a full-time multitasker—as he has been for a majority of his career—his mind often spiralled into thoughts of, “what am I even doing?”
Training apart, he’d wake up for homework and prepare lectures. This was a decathlete pursuing a second Master’s degree, in Exercise Science this time, and teaching students as a graduate assistantship. Too much on the plate?
But Shankar, as he said, “never thrived” on a sports-only appetite. Moving from India to the US and University of Kansas again therefore was like a staple diet, even if the start in January felt glutted.
The dash of confidence came when he jumped 2.26m in a Manhattan meet the same month.
“That shocked me, and made me believe this is right for me,” he told HT.
The next month, he won the heptathlon gold at the Asian Indoor Championships. Last week, he opened his outdoor season in decathlon scoring 7947 points, a wind-aided personal best.
Promising start to a year of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games for this athlete-student-teacher.
“Physically I feel great, and things are going well so far,” Shankar said. “But the biggest fear I have going into the season is to be able to sustain my fitness till October. Obviously, there’s a scientific plan in place, with the best of coaches in the best environment.”
That plan, made alongside coach Kip Janvrin—the American record holder for most decathlons over 8000 points, a barrier the Indian is keen to break—involves competing in the Federation Cup, CWG and Asian Games.
The periodisation timeframe between now and the Federation Cup (May 22-25) and from there to CWG is pretty similar: about 7-8 weeks comprising recovery, building workload and tapering. The tricky part is the shorter turnaround between the CWG (July 23-Aug 2) and Asian Games (Sept 19 to Oct 4).
“There, I will have to focus on recovery and how I can channelise everything I’ve done over the year,” he said.
For that, Shankar wants to “push the envelope” and try different things in the training block leading into the Federation Cup, where meeting the CWG qualification mark (7787) should not be a tall ask for the national record holder.
Post that, focus will be on turning up at his best for the “two big events”. Both carry distinct significance for Shankar.
The CWG is about trying to place the 2022 high jump bronze medallist “in a different league” of medalling in multiple events. The 2022 CWG needed 8000 points for a podium in decathlon.
“Trying to medal in a different event, to me it’s very exciting,” Shankar said. “For that, whether it’s going to take 8000 or 8100, so be it, we’re going to try and push to be in that league.”
The Asian Games is more about an “ego battle” for the 2023 decathlon silver medallist.
“Nothing short of gold should be exciting,” he said. “Last time, it was easier because of the underdog mindset. To go to a meet where I’m one of the favourites, I don’t think I’ve been in that position many times.”
