Indian long jumper Shaili Singh added another international medal to her growing collection, clinching gold in the women’s long jump at the New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026 with a best effort of 6.24m.
The 21-year-old emerged victorious despite not producing her best form of the season. Shaili’s winning mark came in the second round, and none of her competitors were able to surpass it as she secured the top spot on the podium.
Her series read: 6.03m, 6.24m, 6.23m, X, X, 6.10m, highlighting a consistent competition despite a couple of fouls in the latter stages.
While the gold medal will be a welcome boost, Shaili has already demonstrated significantly better form this season. Just weeks ago at the Federation Cup 2026, she claimed silver with a season’s best jump of 6.58m, a mark that placed her among the leading long jumpers in Asia this year.
Her personal best of 6.76m, achieved in 2023, remains one of the best performances by an Indian woman in recent years and underlines the potential many believe she is yet to fully realize.
Shaili first shot to prominence as a teenager when she won silver at the World U20 Athletics Championships in Nairobi in 2021. Coached by legendary long jumper and Olympic medalist Anju Bobby George, she quickly emerged as one of India’s brightest field-event prospects. Her silver medal in Nairobi came behind Serbia’s Adriana Vilagoš and marked one of the finest performances by an Indian jumper at a global age-group championship.
Over the past few seasons, Shaili has established herself as one of India’s leading long jumpers, regularly competing alongside national record holder Ancy Sojan and helping raise the standard of women’s horizontal jumps in the country.
The victory in New Taipei City may not have featured the distances Shaili is capable of producing, but it demonstrated another important quality—the ability to win even when not at her very best. Championship competitions often demand consistency rather than personal bests, and the Indian jumper delivered exactly that.
With the Asian Games cycle gathering momentum, Shaili will be encouraged by the fact that she remains capable of challenging for medals while operating below her peak level. The next objective will be to rediscover the form that saw her jump 6.58m earlier this season and move closer to her personal best of 6.76m.