On September 20, Tejaswin Shankar told ESPN his target for the Asian Games decathlon event: "The bare minimum is a national record," he said. Thirteen days later, he came good on that, breaking the national record and winning silver, India's first decathlon medal at the Asian Games in 49 years.
The decathlon is a gruelling event and two days in China's energy-sapping heat tested him to the maximum but he came out of it with two personal bests and as many season's bests, and a total of 7666 points to break Bharatinder Singh's 12-year record of 7658 points.
He looked exhausted at the end of the 1500m final, the last of the ten events, but that did not stop him from finding the energy to turn around and cheer China's Qihao Sun to the finish line. Sun was his closest competitor and eventual gold medallist, but Tejaswin is the nice guy on the track.
In fact, there's a lot that marks him out from his peers in Indian athletics, and not just his switch from a cushy job with Deloitte in Kansas to move back to India and become a full-time athlete. To start with, the decathlon is almost his secondary event; he made his mark as a high jumper and is currently India's #1 in this field. He started competing in the decathlon last year and he went to Hangzhou ranked #5 in Asia. In fact, he skipped the World Championships last month, where he'd qualified for the high jump, to focus instead on the Asian Games decathlon, where he was more sure of winning a medal.
He took time out so that he would feel like "wanting to compete" and to polish his weaker events such as pole vault and discus throw. The idea was to get used to jumping at bigger heights so that it wouldn't seem daunting in the final. For example, he trained jumping at 4m+ in the pole vault so that he would get used to that height. It paid off: he jumped 4.10m in China for a new personal best.
He knows he's a 'day 1 athlete.' This basically means all his best events, such as the high jump, are on day 1. It's the day he enjoys the most.
And in China, he was #1 when the first five events ended. He managed a season-best in shot put and high jump and won the 400m race to finish on top with 4274 points. He pumped the air and celebrated the win, and then dunked himself in an ice bath to recover. Then he threw up, as most decathletes do, after an energy-sapping day. But as the tattoos on his biceps read: "The beast never stops."
Day 1 has one more important bit: Eating. It's something that he usually doesn't feel like doing. "The really important key for me has been to have a really good meal, a solid heavy meal right after the 400 (the last event on Day 1)", says Tejaswin, who trains at the Inspire Institute of Sport, Bellary. "The anabolic window is right after the 20 minutes to make sure that you throw some sort of carbohydrate inside your body. But it is so very difficult because you feel like throwing up."
So what comes is a big bowl of pasta. "At the end of day one, I'm trying to make sure that I have at least pasta because it goes in easily. I eat a bowl of pasta, some grilled chicken and get ready for day two."
Day two: the day when he plays "catch up with the rest of the field." He did more than just catch up - he put up personal bests in discus throw and pole vault to win the silver and break the more than decade-old national record.
With the medal finally in the bag, the first thing Tejaswin wants to do when he's back in New Delhi is indulge in some good old street food. He's got a sensitive stomach, so his usual food has zero spice or masala: something which irks his family members.
But he will be a tad adventurous when he's back. "I usually don't even look at junk food because I know it will trouble me the next day. But when I am back, I want to eat chole bhature, chicken Afghani and all these sorts of things which are very full of masala because I won't have to worry about it the following week."
After losing close to six kilos over two days, Tejaswin can have all the chole bhature and junk he wants. It won't change the fact that he's India's first Asian Games decathlon medallist in 49 years or that he's India's best decathlete ever.