Baranica Elangovan’s slow and steady rise to becoming India’s premier women’s pole vaulter

The first time Baranica Elangovan walked towards a pole vault runway, she had already prepared her answer.

It was going to be a no.

She had come to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai only because her Physical Education Director at Ethiraj College had insisted that she meet coach Milber Bertrand Russell. Baranica was a long jumper and triple jumper then, slight in build and unsure of a sport that asked an athlete to sprint with a pole, plant it into a box and trust the body to rise.

Then she watched one of the senior athletes, Thanga Vasanth, take off.

“I was amazed. They were flying in the air. After the take-off, there was so much gymnastics involved. I wanted to try it,” Baranica told Sportstar.

The answer had changed.

The first time she broke the NR | Tamil Nadu’s Baranica Elangovan breaks National Record in women’s pole vault days after breaching Asiad standard

That moment in 2016 was the beginning of a journey that has since taken Baranica, now 29, from Kuthalam near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu to the top of Indian women’s pole vault. It has included years of trying to build strength, an injury that threatened to pull her away from the sport, a demanding rehabilitation process, missed opportunities and finally, in 2026, two National Records in the space of a few weeks.

Baranica was not drawn into sport through pole vault. Her first events were long jump, triple jump and sprints. Born to Elangovan, a farmer, and Rani, a homemaker, she studied at Dr. GSK Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Palayagudalore. Sport entered her life almost by accident when a friend took her to a school competition. Once there, the friend asked her to try long jump.

A Physical Education Teacher (PET), Margandan, noticed her jump and invited her to train. Baranica was in class six then. Another PET, Balamurali, also encouraged her, and after they left the school, Thirumalvanan and Senthil continued to guide her. She ran the 100m and 200m, but long jump and triple jump remained her preferred events. She competed at the State level, though the next step remained out of reach.

“The distance from home to school was almost seven kilometres, so I used to train only in the evenings. It was difficult to come for training, go back home and then start for school in the morning,” she said. “Buses were not feasible in my village back then. I used to take the school bus, but since it left early in the evening and I had practice, I convinced my father to get me a cycle and started cycling to school.”

The desire to do more in sport eventually brought her to Chennai. Baranica had done well in studies too, and secured admission to Ethiraj College on merit. But the move from village to city was not easy. She did not know where to train, whom to approach or how to find a coach.

“I shifted to Chennai mainly because I wanted to shine in sports. I was new to the city and did not have exposure. I did not know how to reach coaches or where to start training,” she said. “So I reached out to the Physical Director and said I liked triple jump and wanted a coach. While I waited, I played basketball in college.”

The opportunity that came her way was not in triple jump.

Milber was then scouting for young athletes across colleges as part of an initiative supported by the Pudhumai Penn Foundation, which was looking to help youngsters from modest backgrounds pursue sport. The support also helped secure poles for training. When Baranica followed up on her search for a jumps coach, she was told there was someone looking for athletes willing to try pole vault.

She was sceptical.

ALSO READ | Baranica Elangovan — I have been focusing on my technique rather than just performance

At 42kg then, Baranica could not imagine herself running with a pole. She did not feel prepared, physically or mentally, for an event that looked both technical and frightening. But after that first visit to the stadium, hesitation gave way to curiosity.

The early years were not glamorous. Pole vault was expensive, technically demanding and physically unforgiving. Baranica needed to build strength and body weight, but managing food, protein and daily expenses as a college student was difficult. She went through her first three years in the event without a major medal. Around the same period, former National Record-holder V.S. Surekha was setting new benchmarks in the event.

Baranica watched, listened and learnt.

“I used to chat with Surekha. She would tell me about national and international events,” Baranica said. “Even though I was struggling for success, she watched me train day in and day out and told coach Milber that I would definitely achieve something someday.”

It took nearly three years for Baranica to begin feeling that she belonged. By the time she finished college, she had managed an inter-college medal with a clearance of 2.60m, a mark she now looks back on with perspective rather than pride.

“I wanted to prove to myself and my coach that I could achieve success,” she said.

She then moved to M.O.P. Vaishnav College for her Master’s degree. Milber, having seen her commitment despite the lack of medals, vouched for her. At M.O.P., a monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000 helped her manage life away from home.

The first real breakthrough came in 2018 at the All India University competition, where she cleared 3.80m. It was a Meet Record then. Baranica and Kerala’s Mariya Jaison both cleared the same height, but Mariya took the top spot on countback after Baranica had taken an extra attempt. For Baranica, though, the number mattered. It was proof that she had moved beyond merely learning the event.

A few months later, the sport hit back.

The second time she broke the NR | Baranica betters own national record with 4.23m vault at Indian Indoor Open Combined Events

In 2019, during trials for a Southern Railway job, Baranica asked for two more jumps at the end of a session to build confidence. Her coach had advised her to stop for the day. On one of those attempts, she made her action too early after take-off. The pole did not travel properly, and she landed on the box.

The injury was serious. Her left leg, crucial for take-off as a right-handed vaulter, needed surgery. Baranica initially tried to convince doctors that she could still compete in two days, but Milber insisted on an MRI because of the swelling and the risk of further damage.

“I did not know how to tell my family. I was very scared,” she said. “It was the first time I needed an operation to fix an injury.”

The second time she broke the NR |

There was another fear too. Would her parents allow her to continue in sport after surgery? Baranica asked her coach not to tell them immediately, but the news reached home. The next day, her father called.

“He was very supportive,” she said.

The financial burden, however, was heavy. Her father could not manage the entire cost of the surgery. At one point, Baranica found herself crying alone in a hospital corner. Milber stepped in with funds, and the hospital reduced the expenses to help her through.

Rehabilitation began in Chennai. After nearly three months, she started jogging slowly. It took almost a year before she could return properly to pole vault. Even then, it was cautious. Doctors advised her not to rush back into competition, but Baranica, her coach and a physiotherapist worked out a controlled plan.

“I was asked to do short run-ups and very limited jumps,” she said.

The comeback was not linear. Her body improved, but it did not allow her to train the way she once did. In 2021, she cleared 3.90m to win gold at the Inter-State meet, but she was still managing the after-effects of surgery.

“After surgery, I could not train at high intensity because my leg was still fragile. I used to avoid too many jumps. Before an event, I would do only three or four vaulting sessions,” she said. “I trained one day and did rehab the next. It affected me. I could not improve my technique, but somehow I reached 4.05m in 2022.”

That year also brought a significant turn. At a Grand Prix event in Bhubaneswar in May 2022, Martin Owens, head coach of the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, noticed Baranica and invited her to join the setup. She moved to Reliance in December 2022.

The first three months there were devoted almost entirely to rehab. She had better facilities, access to recovery centres and physiotherapists, and a structure that allowed her to understand her body again. In 2023, she cleared 4.10m at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Bengaluru, meeting the standards then required for major international competitions. But at the Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar, despite good preparation, she failed to register a valid height after opening at 3.80m.

“I still don’t know how it happened. I was expecting 4.20m, but I washed out. My morale went down,” she said.

That failure cost her a shot at the Hangzhou Asian Games. A packed calendar that year also took a toll. Baranica competed in around 11 events and began feeling pain again in her left leg. Doctors later told her that the muscle tissue had not healed completely and advised more strengthening work.

The cycle of managing the body continued into 2025. Baranica got married in January that year, but sport remained at the centre of her life. She competed at the National Games in Uttarakhand in February despite not being in ideal shape, then managed herself through the Federation Cup and other events while dealing with back pain.

“I wasn’t in good shape. I was managing my jumps,” she said. “Given there was the Asian Athletics season, I could not skip competitions. I was competing through pain.”

At the International Open Pole Vault Meet in Busan in 2025, another setback followed. Without her own set of poles, Baranica had to compete with equipment that did not suit her, and in difficult conditions, she managed only 3.40m.

When she returned, Baranica told Milber she needed rest and did not want the pressure to perform.

That pause became important.

Baranica and her team planned the 2026 season with greater care. The focus shifted to the runway, speed and technical rhythm rather than chasing heights every time she competed. The work began to show quickly.

On March 15, at the Indian Open Jumps Competition in Bengaluru, Baranica cleared 4.10m to win gold and breach the Athletics Federation of India’s qualification standard for the 2026 Asian Games.

Nine days later, at the inaugural National Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, she went higher. Baranica cleared 4.22m to break the women’s pole vault National Record of 4.21m, set by fellow Tamil Nadu athlete Rosy Meena Paulraj in 2022. It was the jump she had been chasing for three years.

The record was not built on one dramatic change. It came from small corrections, repeated often. Baranica spoke after the record about refining her runway approach, the high-carry position with the pole and the mental adjustment needed to make technical changes.

“Even a minor change can affect you mentally. You need to practise a 1000 times,” she said.

By then, the athlete who once wondered whether she could even run with a pole had learnt that pole vault rarely rewards hurry. It rewards trust, repetition and the courage to commit to the take-off even after the body has known pain.

On May 3, Baranica raised the bar again. At the inaugural Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault Competition at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, she cleared 4.23m to better her own National Record.

For the record books, it was one centimetre.

For Baranica, it was a little more than that. It was the distance between doubt and belief, between the hospital corner where she once cried alone and the runway in Bhubaneswar where she now stands as India’s best women’s pole vaulter.

The first time she saw the event, she thought the athletes were flying.

Ten years later, Baranica Elangovan has learnt how to stay in the air herself.

Published on May 09, 2026