Tejaswin Shankar Crosses 8,000: India's Greatest Athlete Alive?

Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian ever, to cross the 8,000-point barrier in the toughest sporting event - Decathlon

While the country was watching some random IPL match, Indian Athletics created 3 histories on a single night. After the 100m and 400m drama unfold at the Federation Cup in Ranchi, a 3rd national record fell just as quietly - and in some ways, even more significantly. Over two days at the Birsa Munda Stadium, Tejaswin Shankar scored 8,057 points in the men's decathlon. 

If the 100m and 400m thresholds were about catching up to the world, 8,000 in the decathlon is about joining a different club altogether.

To put the number in perspective: in the global decathlon, the 8,000-point mark is the entry to what coaches and athletes simply call "the 8K club". The threshold above which a decathlete starts being taken seriously on the international stage. Until this weekend, no Indian had crossed it. The previous best by an Indian was 7,947 points, set by Tejaswin himself in San Angelo, Texas, in March this year. Before that, he held a 7,826-point mark in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in July 2025.

On Saturday in Ranchi, in legal conditions, at a national meet, in front of his country, he stepped through.

8,057 is 110 points clear of his own previous best, and 270 points clear of the Athletics Federation of India's Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 7,787. Tejaswin has booked his Glasgow ticket with room to spare. And it has been a long road to get here.

Tejaswin Shankar is 27 years old, from Delhi, and most Indian sports fans first heard his name as a high jumper. He set the Indian high jump national record of 2.29m back in 2018, at the age of 19, and won bronze at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games the same year. He spent the next several years at Kansas State University in the US, competing on the college circuit. When the high jump path narrowed, he made what at the time looked like an odd decision -  he switched to the decathlon. In a country where the event has barely existed as a serious discipline, he chose to build the rest of his career around the hardest event in track and field.

It paid off almost immediately. At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, he won silver with 7,666 points - India's first medal in the decathlon at the Asiad in 49 years. The previous national record, held by Bhartinder Singh since 2011, fell by eight points in the same performance. From then on, he has chipped away at his own mark season by season. 

7,666 to 7,826 to 7,947, and now 8,057 in Ranchi.

The breakdown is worth looking at, because it shows how complete the performance was. 

• On Day 1, Tejaswin ran the 100m in 10.77s, jumped 7.67m in the long jump, put the shot to 13.31m, cleared 2.25m in the high jump, and ran the 400m in 48.29s. That gave him 4,511 points after five events and already a strong total. 

• On Day 2, he ran 14.23 in the 110m hurdles, threw the discus to 37.90m, vaulted 4.20m in the pole vault, threw the javelin 47.71m, and closed with a 4:29.02 in the 1500m. Day two total: 3,546 points.

http://indiasportshub.com/articles/tejaswin-shankar-eyes-historic-8000-point-barrier-after-stunning-day-1-at-federation-cup-2026

His high jump of 2.25m gave him the single biggest haul of points (1,041) a reminder that his original discipline still anchors his decathlon. But the long jump (977 points), the 110m hurdles (945 points), and the 100m (912 points) tell you that the rest of the toolkit has come along too. Decathlon rewards balance, and over two days in Ranchi, Tejaswin was balanced.

Behind him, Thowfeeq N of NCOE Trivandrum took silver with 7,530 points, a 527-point gap. Gokul KR of the Navy took bronze with 7,157. The depth in Indian decathlon is still thin. Tejaswin's nearest challenger would have to find nearly 900 points to catch him. But four athletes finished above 7,000 points in Ranchi, which is more than this event has typically produced at a domestic Indian meet.

For everyone at IndiaSportsHub, this is the third national record we have written about in 4 hours from Ranchi. Vishal TK ran the first Indian sub-45 over 400m. Gurindervir Singh ran 10.09 in the 100m. And on the same track, with far less of the spotlight, Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian decathlete to walk into the 8,000-point club.

Different events. Different disciplines. Same story.