‘It's a door-opener': Krishna Jayasankar set to become first Indian woman to compete in US Collegiate competition finals

Indian Express

16 hours ago

Remembering to speak English slowly and enunciate words clearly during her Fox5 News TV interview was one of the briefs that Krishna Jayasankar received from her American coaches, she recalls with a chuckle.
The shot putter and discus thrower is the first Indian woman to qualify for the NCAA Track & Field Championships, currently underway at Eugene. And her breathless vocal motor speed, where she belts out extremely well-thought-out answers on myriad posers at a hip hopper's clip, got coaches including sprint legend and her University of Nevada (UNLV) coach Carmelita Jeter, to offer tips on more than technique and power shifts in her throws.
'They kept telling me, 'Krish, pace yourself when speaking on TV. Talk slowly in interviews,' she says of a breakthrough season, as she worked her way up to NCAA mains qualification, and also became popular on TV networks. 'I was excited to be on TV and the Las Vegas media has always been so supportive to UNLV students. I want to change perceptions. People of my body structure (muscular, throwers) – they don't consider us beautiful. But I advocated for body positivity,' she added.
American University track & field athletes tend to gather quite a bit of stardom but being invited to a local network and going national subsequently, meant Krishna gave voice to the lesser-known female throwing ilk and also spoke for athletes of Indian ethnicity.
Born to international basketballers Prasanna and Jayasankar Menon in Chennai, the 23-year-old has trained variously at Vijayawada, Jamaica and the University of Texas, but transferred to Nevada, following a previous coach. She also works part-time at the Thomas & Mack Centre, an arena where Sinatra once sang and where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's points record in Las Vegas.
'I'm a people person and I work customer-facing shifts at the ticketing centre, resolving issues. Vegas has massive events, so it's a lot of work, but I need to. It's challenging — a part-time job, full-time athlete and student,' she says, of what is the reality for many Indian student-athletes, even if on sports scholarships. It helps, though, that she communicates at a fast-clip English speed that boggles many Americans, she laughs.
The recent chaos in student and immigration visas has also meant she hasn't returned to India or seen family since last September while working in the fall. Through it all, she navigated a very negative head-space, dealing with injuries and a rough last season, plus the uncertainty of University coaches leaving and new ones joining.
'When I came to the US, as an Indian and a girl who loved throws, the dream was to be at the NC Double A finals. But 2025 has been a worthwhile grind,' she said.
Krishna went in ranked No. 45 out of 48 athletes in her division, amongst 25 Universities, and broke the school record set in 1999, on the way, rung in a personal best of 55.61m in the outdoor discus and currently holds an indoor national record in the shot put. She is still some way off the Indian outdoor national records but finished No. 7 in her division and at No. 12 on the US collegiate list.
'It's great to be the first woman out of 1.3 billion and it's a door-opener, but out there I'm out of my comfort zone and getting here took resilience. Knee cap still hurts from the injury, and I take painkillers after every throw. The ankle and calf burn unbearably,' she says.
Her move from Texas to Nevada through a transfer portal was particularly rough, and when the coach got fired in 2023 it seemed like one right setback. 'I told myself this is on me, took ownership of my throwing but I was without a coach till the University hired a new one. I went into depressive mode because a lot was at stake. I was used to getting guidance so it was chaos and confusion,' she recalls. Then 'Coach Jet' and Throws coach Jordan Roach arrived.
'She has a different aura, very positive,' she says of Jetter who won the relays Olympics gold and a string of world titles and was considered the fastest American for a decade. '2024 was full of adversity but I was growing,' she says.
The 2024 outdoor season was lost to a hand fracture, and her frustration and anxiety peaked. But working with a team of psychologists, lifting coaches, Roach and Jetter, brought her back on track. 'I'm on to proper recovery now. And Throws coach Jordan and strength & conditioning director Jamie Wynn helped me reach elite lifting numbers in the gym where most throws training happens for explosive strength,' she says.
The key to gymming in preparation for throws isn't necessarily how heavy she lifts, but the speed – which her coaches joke should be directly proportional to how fast she speaks – very. 'The trick is bar speed, how fast you lift that translates on the field in shotput and discus,' she says. It's where she says brute and beaut converge like she tried explaining on TV.