India, Feb. 10 -- avishek.roy@htlive.com

New Delhi: Three years after he gave up sprinting and took up pole vault, Dev Kumar Meena set a national record at the Uttarakhand National Games on Monday. The 19-year-old from Madhya Pradesh cleared 5.32m, improving on S Siva's record of 5.31m set in 2022.

Meena started as a sprinter at his village of Kheda in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh, switching to pole vault in 2021 at the insistence of coach Ghanshyam Yadav, a former pole vaulter who trains him at the Tatya Tope Academy in Bhopal -- a state government-run institute.

The teenager has impressed with his progress. He won bronze at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships (U-20) in Dubai last year, clearing 5.10m. He cleared 5.20m at the...