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.”
