Dev Kumar Meena continues to go higher than any Indian has before him. At the Federation Cup in Kochi on Tuesday, Dev (19) began his pole vault event when almost everyone else had stopped and then walked away with a new national record, 5.35m.
Rewriting his own NR from the National Games earlier this year, and with his third straight Fed Cup title, Dev is now India's undisputed #1 in the pole vault. But that's of little use to him in his constant struggles with being an Indian athlete in a non-glamorous sport.
Exhibit 1: This latest NR won't be enough for him to represent India at the Asian Athletics Championships because of an arbitrary qualifying mark set by the Athletics Federation of India - who want their pole vaulters to clear 5.51m to qualify.
Just how arbitrary? Clearing 5.51m at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships would have won Dev bronze. His current 5.35m would have placed him fifth. That 5.51m would have won him gold, with a championship record, in the Asian U-20 Championships last year (where he won bronze with 5.10m, India's first pole vault medal at this level in nearly three decades).
When asked about the qualifying standard, Dev was understandably diplomatic, saying "the Federation knows best," but when pressed for more, suggested that "it would have good if it was lowered to say 5.40m so I can go and compete..."
A 400m runner turned pole vaulter from the Madhya Pradesh Athletics Academy in Bhopal, Dev already has international pedigree - having become the first Indian pole vaulter to qualify for the World junior championships and medaling in the aforementioned Asian junior championships. His next target, he says, is the World University Games (in Germany, in July).
Dev speaks with the clarity, and swagger, of an athlete who's supremely confident in his abilities. He had cleared 5.35m on his first attempt, with room to spare between him and the bar, but he says he didn't push for more because a slight drizzle in the evening had made it hard for him to grip the pole. "I'm disappointed [at not making the Asian qualifying mark] but I didn't want to risk injury. I know I can do better, though."
Just how better? Can he clear the 5.51m soon? "Easy"
What's not easy, he says with a big laugh, is transporting the instruments of his art -- the poles. There's real pain behind the laugh, though. Ranging from 4.75m to 5m, the poles are massive and not easy to lug around. Airlines frequently make a fuss and it's not much easier in trains where everyone from the TTE to the passengers need to be given an explanation. They carry it in sleeper berths, bending the poles a bit along the aisle or more often, keeping it atop the fans.
"How can you expect an athlete to go and do his best if he has to worry about such a simple thing?" asks Dev's coach Ghanshyam Yadav.
For the Federation Cup, he sent his wards by flight, while he himself came by train, transporting the 10 poles the three athletes from his Academy would need. He insists on doing it himself because he believes it's unfair for the athlete to take the tension and stress that comes with it. Once, for instance, he had to deboard in Lucknow because the TTE refused to let him travel with the poles, valid ticket notwithstanding. Ghanshyam relies heavily on the Madhya Pradesh government to ease his travel woes --former sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia is just a call away, he says -- but he knows that's not the case for every pole vaulter in the country.
An Inter-University medal winning pole vaulter himself, Ghanshyam was the one who convinced Dev to take up pole vaulting, arguing that it'd be easier to make a name in a sport that has much less participation than the 400m and reassuring him that the Academy would provide for all the equipment. As Dev developed, he realised that to push the athlete to greater heights, he would need coaching of an international caliber. In came Cuba's Angel Eduardo Garcia (P.B. 5.65m) in December last year.
Dev Meena broke the National Record 5.35m ��
The 20-yo Dev Meena broke the NR (Previous Own NR 5.32m) & won the Gold Medal in the Men's Pole Vault at the Federation Cup ��
INCREDIBLE WELL DONE DEV ����❤️ pic.twitter.com/6lCt9utfnH
- The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) April 22, 2025
Dev's progress since then has been stunning. "It's all about technique", says Ghanshyam. "In India, most of us have trained and coached on metal poles which have very little bend. Fiberglass poles that we use today demand a very specific technique and skillset."
Garcia's focus has been on honing these skillsets. He makes Dev and co. do gymnastics exercises which mimic the twist and fall, focuses on sprinting with the pole to ensure they carry speed through to the end. "It's like long jump," says Ghanshyam. "We want them to be at the fastest at the time of planting the pole." The natural tendency to slow down, calibrate the plant, and then take the leap must be removed completely, he says.
It's been only a few months, but the Garcia-Dev partnership is an instructive case study in just how effective coaching can transform the potential of an athlete -- where technical skill has to be taught, teachers of the highest order are required. There are lessons there for those who are paying attention.
For Dev now, it's like his state's sports minister said on call right after the Fed Cup win: keep your feet on the ground, keep giving it a 100%, and dream as big as you can. After all, for an elite pole vaulter the sky really is the limit.