According to Indian publication The Hindu, Indian athletes are already following workouts prepared by the Russian as the Athletics Federation of India prepares to appoint a new coach to the post and the athletes prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Kapustin is said to have applied, and appears likely to assume the role.

Kapustin's personal best as an athlete was 17.65 metres in the triple jump and he was regarded as one of the best jumpers in the world when he won the bronze medal at Sydney 2000 behind world record-holder Jonathan Edwards of Britain and Cuba's Yoel García.

His best performance at the World Championships was in Athens in 1997, finishing fourth.

Kapustin won the European title in 1994 in Helsinki and added European silver four years later in Budapest.

In 1994, he also won European indoor silver medal in Paris.

Kapustin has previously been the national jumps coach for Turkey.

India's outgoing jumps coach is Bedros Bedrosian of Romania, whose contract was set to end this month, but he reportedly left the country a several months ago amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The application deadline is Thursday (December 31), with the successful candidate's contract running until the completion of the Paris 2024 Olympics, per The Hindu.

Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar holds the men's national record with a best of 8.20m, which he set in 2018 at the age of 19.

World bronze medallist Anju Bobby George still holds the women's long jump record from the Athens 2004 Olympics, where she finished fifth with a best of 6.83m.

Renjith Maheśwary, who served a three-month anti-doping ban earlier in his career, broke the men's triple jump record in 2016 with a best of 17.30m.

Mayookha Johny holds the women's triple jump record from a 2011 jump of 14.11m.