Murali Sreeshankar sought help from his longtime friend and mentor Keith Herston as he decided to train briefly in the United States before traveling to Europe in preparation for the upcoming important Athletics event.
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M Sreeshankar has time and again brought laurels to India. Sreeshankar became the Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medalist in Birmingham. He is also a former Indian national record holder in the men’s long jump with a best jump of 8.36 m. Although every athletics fan is aware of the fact that Sreeshankar’s father is his primary coach, not many people know Keith Herston, another man who has been playing an instrumental role in Sreeshankar’s long jump career.
Murali Sreeshankar sought help from his longtime friend and mentor Keith Herston as he decided to train briefly in the United States before traveling to Europe in preparation for the upcoming important Athletics event. Herston has been a longtime friend of Sreeshankar and his father Murali. M Sreeshankar was recruited to Texas Tech by Herston, a member of the coaching staff, five years ago. Through the years, the trio has remained close, consistently collaborating to boost Sreeshankar’s performance. Therefore, the father-son pair went with the Herston’s facility in Texas as their training location.
Herston’s primary goal during their time together will be to help him to master the last three phases of Sreeshankar’s approach before the leap. They develop a routine for him to follow, making sure that every jump makes the most of his ability. The key to success in this area is Sreeshankar’s ability to utilize his explosive strength while retaining the proper position as he reaches the take-off board. Keith Herston has seen Sreeshankar develop from an exceptionally talented individual into a world-class athlete. He has improved from his earliest jumps of 7.70 meters to frequently clearing over 8.1 meters, with a personal best of 8.35 meters. We will now see some facts about Murali Sreeshakar’s long-time friend and part-time coach Keith Herston.
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Keith Herston earned his bachelor’s degree in human environmental sciences from the University of Alabama in 2007, where he also competed in the horizontal jumps as a member of the men’s track and field team. His inclusion on the SEC Academic Honour Roll happened when he was there. At Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, he obtained his master’s degree in kinesiology in 2009.
Herston has trained three Olympians, two World Championship finalists, one NCAA Champion, and 38 All-Americans during his tenure. His athletes have achieved three NCAA top-10 all-time finishes and broken 24 school records. He guided Jogaile Petrokaite to three consecutive long jump titles for Lithuania and to the Latvian national title.
In 2022, Keith Herston’s jump and the multis group witnessed great success as eight Red Raiders which included six Big 12 champions, were named to the First Team of the All-Americans. Monae’ Nichols finished second in the long jump during the NCAA Indoor meet, while Ruth Usoro finished fifth. At the NCAA Outdoor meet, Ruta Lasmane got second place in the triple jump, while Usoro finished third, and Nichols took fourth place in the long jump. Keith Herston was appointed to the job of assistant coach for jumps and multis in July 2021. After serving as an assistant coach at Florida State since 2017, Herston relocated to West Texas.
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