Tamil Nadu athlete Baranika Elangovan has created history at the age of 29. He has won a medal for India in the Asian Games 2026 being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in a sport which has always disappointed India. On Friday, she won the bronze medal in the women's pole vault event with a jump of 4.15 meters. This is the first pole vault medal for India in the Asian Games.
Baranika Elangovan has become the first Indian athlete to win a pole vault medal in any of the three major tournaments, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics. In the competition, she also tried to cross the height of 4.25 meters but failed in all three attempts.
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How did India get its first medal in pole vault?
Baranika had created a national record with 4.22 meters in the National Indoor Athletics Championship held in Bhubaneswar this year. She broke Rosie Meena's old record of 4.21 metres. In May, at the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault competition, she improved her own record with 4.23 metres, but a few weeks later, G Sindhushree broke this record with 4.25 metres. Sindhushree was also involved in Friday's competition, but she could not register any valid jump.
Who got the gold and silver medals?
In May, Baranika also won gold medals at the Indian Open Athletics Series in Chennai and the 29th National Senior Athletics Championships in Ranchi, where she jumped 4.10 meters both times. She could not qualify for the Hangzhou Asian Games held three years ago because of her poor performance in an inter-state meet in Bhubaneswar. Months of preparation resulted in the Asian Games 2026. The gold medal in this event was won by Japan's Misaki Morota with a personal best jump of 4.55 metres, while China's Chung Niu won the silver medal with a jump of 4.50 metres.
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Who is Baranika?
Baranika comes from Tamil Nadu. His age is 29 years. Baranika comes from an ordinary family. His father is a farmer and mother a housewife.
Baranica began her career as a long jumper and sprinter, but switched to pole vault during college. Coach Milber Bertrand Russell trained him for many years and played an important role in his historic achievement.
According to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Baranika joined the Bhubaneswar-based Reliance Foundation High Performance Center in 2023 after suffering an ACL injury in 2020 and subsequently undergoing a long rehabilitation period. After continuous training and recovery, she kept improving. Now he has won the first medal for the country.