Tejaswin Shankar, the National record holder in high jump and decathlon, loves to break barriers, especially the tougher ones. When he ruled the high jump scene in India, he chose to switch to the much tougher decathlon and put himself through harder tests.After becoming the first Indian to cross 8,000 points (8,057) in decathlon in the Federation athletics meet at the Birsa Munda Stadium (Morabadi) in Ranchi, Tejaswin — an Asian Games silver medallist in decathlon and a high jump bronze winner at the Commonwealth Games — was relieved.What made it possibleFour personal bests (in 100m, long jump, 400m and 1500m) were achieved, courtesy a combination of factors — his sound knowledge of the disciplines, meticulous planning, hard work and support system. “The 8,000-point barrier is officially broken. No more worrying about wind or asterisks. I was very happy to achieve it because I had two chances this season. In heptathlon, I did 5,997, and that stung. Before that, my best was around 5,657. I knew I was in shape for 6,000. When you’re that close, it hurts more,” Tejaswin said.“Same thing happened three-four months later at my first decathlon event [of the season] in San Angelo. I had an explosive day one again. On the second day, I had breakthroughs in pole vault. Then in 1500m, all I needed was 4:40 to break the 8,000-point mark. I ran 4:51; I had never run that slow. The weather was tough (challenging), but that’s not an excuse. You train to handle any situation. I missed 8,000 by 53 points. I told myself ‘next time, no matter how far behind I am, I’ll cover it’.”A friendly taunt from his wife Siddhi Hiray motivated Tejaswin. In Ranchi, he targeted a time of 4:37 in 1500m to get to 8,000 points, but he managed to clock 4:29 to reach where he was longing for.Tejaswin understands his game well. “Everyone’s a different beast. Everyone has their own way. I made 8,000 in one way, someone else made it differently. Some have even scores across the board. Not many do 2.25m in high jump (in decathlon), and no one does 40m in javelin and still scores 8,000. It’s a weird balance. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I play to mine: build a massive score on day one, and then do damage control on day two. As I improve in those events, I can score more.”