Glasgow, Aug 1 — Tejaswin Shankar made history for India by becoming the first athlete from the country to win a medal in the men’s decathlon at a major international multi-sport event, claiming bronze at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow on Friday.

The high jumper-turned-decathlete also entered the record books as the first Indian to win Commonwealth Games medals in two different disciplines. He had earlier secured bronze in the men’s high jump at the 2022 Games in Birmingham.

The first Indian decathlete to cross the 8,000-point mark, Shankar finished with 7,976 points in the most demanding event on the track-and-field programme. He placed behind Victor Lindon of Grenada, who recorded a season-best 8,096 points, and Canada’s Damian Warner, who took silver with 8,036 points.

Across the two-day competition, the 27-year-old finished seventh in the 100 m in 10.96 seconds (870 points), cleared 7.82 m in the long jump for 1,015 points and moved into overall third. He scored 673 points in the shot put, cleared 2.15 m in the high jump for 944 points and finished fifth in the 400 m for 837 points, ending the first day with 4,339 points and second place overall.

On the second day he collected 922 points in the 110 m hurdles, a modest 674 in the discus and 704 in the pole vault, temporarily slipping to fourth. A strong javelin performance returned him to the medal positions, and he confirmed the bronze by scoring 704 points in the 1,500 m to finish with a total of 7,976.

Shankar is the Indian national record holder in the decathlon and a graduate of Kansas State University, where he won two NCAA Division I high-jump titles. He first gained prominence by setting the national high-jump record of 2.29 m in 2018. After his 2022 Commonwealth Games high-jump bronze, he shifted focus to combined events and won silver in the decathlon at the 2022 Asian Games. He is also the reigning Asian champion in both the heptathlon and the decathlon.

The Glasgow bronze marks a significant milestone for Indian athletics, establishing Shankar as a multi-discipline medallist on the Commonwealth stage and underlining the country’s growing presence in the combined events.