World Championships finalist Sarvesh Kushare walked into Monaco’s Stade Louis II on Friday night for his Diamond League debut, carrying little more than belief and the confidence that came from breaking India’s high jump record just weeks earlier at National Interstate Championship.
“2.31m is a mark that can help me reach the podium on the global stage,” Kushare told RevSportz in Bhubaneswar after his record-breaking feat.
The Indian national record holder took another step towards proving that belief. He finished third in the stacked men’s high jump field with a best clearance of 2.26m in Monaco. Ukraine’s reigning World Indoor champion and world leader Oleh Doroshchuk won the Monaco Diamond League with a best effort of 2.32m, while Britain’s Jack Kimani, who has shown incredible improvement this season, finished second after clearing 2.30m.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympic joint gold medallists Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar endured disappointing outings, finishing sixth and eighth with best clearances of 2.23m and 2.20m respectively.
The competition marked the second biggest stage of Kushare’s career after the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where he became the first Indian high jumper to qualify for the final.
The 31-year-old from Maharashtra, who entered the Monaco Diamond League ranked fourth on the season’s world list and as Asia’s No. 1 in 2026, looked composed on his debut. He cleared 2.12m, 2.16m, 2.20m, 2.23m and 2.26m flawlessly at the first attempt before failing to clear 2.28m.
The result made Kushare the first Indian athlete to finish in the top three on his Diamond League debut. It is another milestone in a breakthrough season for the Maharashtra athlete, who recently became the first Indian high jumper to clear the elusive 2.30m mark at the National Inter-State Championships, soaring over 2.31m to break the long-standing national record of 2.29m set by Tejaswin Shankar in 2019.
Kushare also entered an exclusive club, becoming only the fourth Indian to finish in the top three at a Diamond League meeting, joining Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar.
Animesh shatters personal best
India’s second-fastest sprinter and 200m national record holder, Animesh Kujur, clocked an impressive 10.14s in the men’s 100m at the PUMA Fast Arms Fast Legs Meet in Germany to begin his European campaign.
The performance improved his personal best by one-hundredth of a second and also made him the fastest Indian ever over 100m outside India.
Earlier in the day, he had clocked 10.19s in the heats before improving to 10.14s in the final, where he finished second behind South Africa’s Retshidisitswe Milenga, who clocked 10.03s to set a new meet record.
The national record is held by Gurvindervir Singh, who clocked 10.09s at the Federation Cup in Ranchi earlier this year.
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