“I Want to Break Limits”: Jeswin Aldrin Opens Up on Injuries, Olympic Dreams and the Fight to Return
Jeswin Aldrin Reflects on His Rise, Injuries and the Road Back
There was a time in 2023 when Jeswin Aldrin looked unstoppable.
The Tamil Nadu long jumper rewrote Indian athletics history with a stunning 8.42m jump, broke the national record, crossed the coveted eight-metre barrier five times in a single season, and reached the final of the World Championships. At just 21, he was suddenly being spoken about as one of India’s biggest medal hopes for the future.
Then came the difficult phase.
Recurring knee injuries disrupted rhythm, confidence, and continuity. The last two seasons have not produced another eight-metre jump. The Paris Olympics ended in heartbreak with a 13th-place finish in qualification. Questions began to emerge around form, fitness, and whether the explosive version of Jeswin from 2023 would return. But sitting at the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre at the Jio Institute, Jeswin Aldrin does not sound defeated. Reflective, yes. Frustrated at times, certainly. But defeated? Not even close.
“I think in the last two years it’s mostly because of injuries,” Jeswin said during an exclusive interaction with IndiaSportsHub. “It’s not like I’m having different injuries, but it’s the same injury recurring every time. Right now I’m trying to get better and learn from the past two years so I don’t repeat the same mistakes again.”
That injury a recurring knee issue has shaped much of his recent journey. In long jump, where explosive power, speed and runway confidence define success, even the smallest physical hesitation can completely alter performance. For Jeswin, the challenge has not only been physical recovery, but rebuilding belief. Yet belief is something he still carries strongly.
“I’ll never doubt myself,” he said. “I think I can always come back from whatever situation. Maybe it takes time, but I know I can beat the top players.”
That mindset perhaps explains how he reached the top so quickly in 2023. Interestingly, Jeswin revealed that the national record season was not entirely unexpected internally. While the 8.42m jump stunned Indian athletics, he and his team already sensed something special was building in training. “I was expecting that I would get it somewhere in the season,” he admitted. “I was just doing what my coach asked me to do and it came by itself. It was one of the best feelings of my life.”
That season transformed Indian long jump.
For years, India had searched for athletes capable of consistently competing internationally in horizontal jumps. Suddenly, the country had two world-class jumpers in Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar. Their rivalry quickly became one of the most fascinating stories in Indian athletics. But Jeswin insists the relationship extends far beyond competition.
“Me and Sreeshankar are really good friends outside sport,” he said. “We have fun, we go out. But when we come into competition, we both want to be the best.”. “He showed that nothing is impossible for him,” Jeswin said. “I take inspiration from him.”
The rivalry has clearly elevated Indian long jump standards. Both athletes pushed each other towards bigger distances, bigger ambitions, and greater international exposure. Jeswin even admits that he draws inspiration from Sreeshankar’s ability to bounce back from setbacks.
That idea of “breaking limits” appears repeatedly in Jeswin’s thinking.
“I want to be the guy who dreams big and breaks limits,” he said. “People say jumping beyond 8.20m is difficult. I want to break those limits.”
Even after difficult seasons, his long-term vision remains unchanged. The Paris Olympics qualification round still hurts. Jeswin finished 13th with 7.61m, narrowly missing out on the final. For an athlete who once looked capable of challenging the very best, it was a painful moment. Yet he views the experience differently now.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling,” he said about the Olympics. “I was just disappointed because I was not able to give my 100 percent.”
At only 24 years old, Jeswin still has time on his side. His focus is now firmly on rebuilding patiently towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Rather than obsessing over future medals, he says the process matters more.
“Today waking up on time, eating properly, giving 100 percent in training, getting recovery done that’s all I’m focusing on right now,” he explained. “If I keep doing this, things will take care of themselves.”
The ambition, however, remains enormous.
“I want to become an Olympic champion before I retire,” he said plainly. “When you compete with the best people in the world, you learn more,” he said. “You learn how to stay composed and competitive.”
Jeswin’s story also reflects the changing landscape of Indian athletics. Athletes today are no longer satisfied with national success alone. They want global relevance, international competition exposure, and world-level consistency. Jeswin repeatedly stressed how important competing abroad has been for his development.
He also welcomed the emergence of younger talents like Lokesh Sathyanathan, who recently broke Jeswin’s indoor national record. Rather than seeing it negatively, Jeswin views such performances as necessary for Indian athletics to grow stronger. And perhaps that is what stands out most about him now.
Not the national record. Not the setbacks. Not even the Olympic dream.
But the refusal to stop believing that his best jump is still ahead. For Jeswin Aldrin, this phase is not the ending of the story. It is simply the difficult middle chapter before the next big leap.
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