Baranica Elangovan wins India’s first Asian Games pole vault medal

Baranica Elangovan became the first Indian to win a pole vault medal at the Asian Games, securing bronze with a 4.15m jump at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games on September 25. The 29-year-old from Tamil Nadu shared the podium with Kazakhstan's Polina Ivanova after both failed to clear 4.25m and had identical attempt counts. Japan's Misaki Morota won gold with 4.55m, and China's Chunge Niu took silver at 4.50m.

The Hindu reports that Baranica initially did not believe she had won, checking repeatedly until officials confirmed. She overcame an ACL injury in 2020 and trained at the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar from 2023. Her national record of 4.23m set in May was later broken by G. Sindhushree, who recorded no mark in the event. India's Gulveer Singh won silver in the 10,000m and Manpreet Kaur bronze in shot put on the same day.