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Baranica Elangovan breaks Rosy Meena Paulraj national pole vault record with 4.22m after ACL surgery and training at Reliance Foundation in Bhubaneswar.
Baranica Elangovan with her 4.22m pole vault (Instagram/rfyouthsports)
Exactly 10 years ago, Baranica Elangovan wondered whether her lean frame would be able to carry a heavy pole. Listening to the advice of her college teacher turned out to be a wise decision, as she smashed the national record here on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Baranica, a three-time national outdoor champion from Tamil Nadu, cleared 4.22m to better the previous women’s pole vault national record of 4.21m, which had been held by Rosy Meena Paulraj since 2022.
Baranica’s mark will now stand as both the national indoor and the overall record, and it will be a mere formality for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to ratify it.
Picking Pole
Back in 2016, however, she was unsure when the physical education director of Ethiraj College in Chennai advised her to take up pole vault and meet coach Milber Bertrand Russell.
She eventually followed the advice and chose to continue working with Russell, with whom she has remained associated ever since.
“I was studying in Ethiraj College. Initially, I was not planning to do pole vault. I liked to do jumps. I was very much into triple jump. So I was in search of a coach,” said Baranica, who hails from Mayiladuthurai, south of Chennai.
“Because Chennai was new to me, I approached my physical education director Uma Devi. She recommended that I take up pole vault. She said Milber was searching for a female athlete for pole vault.
“I was like, I can’t run with a pole. The pole will be heavy. I am very lean, how can you think I can run with a pole? I was saying things like that. She told me to meet Milber.”
Baranica eventually went to meet Milber, and she immediately fell in love with pole vault.
“I saw one senior doing pole vault. I was like, wow, I want to do it. It was so exciting to see. So that’s how it started. That was in 2016.
“I was not fit enough. I was only 42kg at that time. It took me three years to build my own thing. I started from zero. Coach Milber shaped me. Today I am here because of him,” said Baranica about her coach.
“He has been with me all the time, during my struggling days.”
Milber is originally from Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, but he has settled in Chennai with his family.
Shifting Base From Chennai To Bhubaneswar
Baranica, who is currently with the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar after shifting base from Chennai in 2023, has made a remarkable comeback from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery on her left leg in 2020.
She said she benefited from the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance (ABTP) centre at the Kalinga Stadium complex during her rehabilitation.
“Actually, after coming here (Bhubaneswar), we kind of sorted out the things which were working for me and it’s really helpful. The physios at the ABTP centre are really helpful. They have technology and advanced machines.
“It took me three years to understand my own thing on the runway and everything. And, finally, we set the pace for the basic thing.”
Talking about refining her runway approach and making adjustments to her technique, she said, “We used to have the high carry (of the pole). After that, the approach will be easier. And most of the athletes will be struggling in that only. And take-off also will be up and down.
“You have to prepare yourself mentally and physically. It’s not easy to pick up things. Even a minor change can affect you mentally. You need to practice a 1000 times. But we worked on that.”
She said training with a physio also helped, along with the top-class infrastructure available in Bhubaneswar.
“I was attempting to break the national record in the last three years but everything fell in place today,” said Baranica whose earlier personal best was 4.15m recorded in 2024.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Bhubaneswar, India, India
March 25, 2026, 07:52 IST
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