Indian Pole Vaulter Baranica Elangovan. (Twitter)
The 26-year-old Baranica is the only pole vaulter in the Indian contingent and will look to become the first Indian in history to medal in the women’s event at the Asian Athletics Championships.
India will be sending a contingent of 40+ athletes to the Asian Championships which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 12-16 July 2023. Of that big contingent, Baranica Elangovan is the only Pole Vaulter. The 26-year-old is a Reliance Foundation athlete who trains at the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar.
She will be bidding to become the 1st Indian in history to medal in the women’s pole vault event at the Asian Athletics Championships, an event that has been traditionally dominated by Chinese and Japanese athletes.
Baranica was the 1st Indian woman to clear a height of 4m in 2023 in April. However, having finished third in the National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships and having failed to medal at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, she had her share of anxious moments before the squad for the Asian Championships was announced.
“I was extremely happy but at the same moment, I was feeling very nervous if I would make the Indian squad. I had not performed up to my expectations in the Federation Cup and National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships. So, I was very worried that I would make the cut as I did not know which performances will be taken into consideration. I knew about my potential but ultimately it is your performance that does the talking and I had done well at the Indian Grand Prix 4 earlier this year.”
Martin Owens, Head Coach at Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre, is enthused about her prospects. “Baranica is in with a shout in the women’s pole vault if she performs up to standard. She has jumped 4.10m twice already this year and looks good for pushing up into the 4.20m range and attacking the Indian national record,” Owens said.
“She has worked really hard after coming back from injury. The strength and conditioning team have worked really hard to get her in peak physical shape. Technically, she will be using a stiffer and longer pole,” Owens added.
Baranica, though, has taken the learnings from the last two competitions. She has now started training with the actual competition crossbar to get a feel of it and to overcome her fear of getting hurt by it.
“After the Inter-State tournament, I started practising with the real bar. Earlier, I used to practice with the elastic bar. The reason for practising with the real bar is to get the mind adapted to it and in competition mode. With the real bar, there is always a chance of it hitting you after you have landed, which is why a lot of athletes don’t use that in practice. But I felt that it was important for me to overcome that fear of getting hit. I think it will help me hit the ground running from the first jump itself.”
Baranica’s personal best of 4.10m came at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in April this year in Bengaluru. The Indian national record stands in the name of another Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC athlete, Rosy Meena Paulraj, who cleared a height of 4.21m in 2022. Baranica has her sights set on that record now, clearing which at the Asian Athletics Championships should definitely put her in medal contention.
“I will look to clear 4.30m at the Asian Athletics Championships. I had set myself that target for the Federation Cup and the National Inter-State Athletics Championships too and I have done it in practice sessions. The challenge now is to replicate it in an actual competition.”