Dev Kumar Meena transitioned from the 400m to pole vault just three years ago, and now he seems eager to make up for lost time. The 19-year-old from Madhya Pradesh set a new National record in pole vault, increasing it by one centimeter to 5.32m, while successfully defending his National Games gold medal at the Ganga Stadium on Monday. This marked the first National record in athletics at the current edition of the event. In doing so, he also improved his personal best by 12cm.
After surpassing Tamil Nadu’s S. Siva’s National record, Dev grew more ambitious and attempted 5.40m. However, each time, he ended up knocking the bar down.