RANCHI: As two of the country’s fastest men, Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh went through their stretching rituals in the 100m track at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium, history seemed to be looming on the quiet evening horizon. It was more than a hunch. It was on the expected lines.
If Gurindervir stopped under 10 seconds, one athlete stole the show. Vishal TK. He became the first Indian to run under 45 seconds in one of the most competitive 400m events.
Less than 24 hours after both runners broke the national record within minutes, all eyes were on the men’s 100m final on day 2 of the Athletics Federation Senior National Championships. With Kujur clocking 10.15 seconds after Singh’s 10.17 run on Friday, confidence grew that those marks could be broken on Saturday.
And the belief became a reality. With a great start, Gurindervir continued to maintain the pace and built a comfortable gap by 100m standards with Kujur. In the last twenty meters, he moved forward, ran to the finish line and the screen showed ‘10.09s’. There was collective noise and misery throughout the stadium. What followed next was an explosion of emotions. Gurindervir’s tag on his tail suggested he won’t be satisfied with this feat alone. Neither did Kujur who finished second with a time of 10.20 seconds.
Someone who has seen them both grow up, Reliance Foundation athletics director and England coach James Hillier felt there is more to come. Last year was where both Kujur and Gurindervir lowered their marks from 10.22 to 10.18. A sub-1o seems a reality.
“Our aim this year was to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games,” Hillier said. New Indian Express before the men’s final. And both his runners have broken the qualifying mark (10.16 seconds) for the biennial event in Glasgow. “(For Gurindervir) anything from 10.06 to 10.10 is where I felt he could do, if he executed perfectly. So he still has a little bit more execution ahead of him. We got a little bit more based on how he is right now. But also, we expect him to improve this year and next year. I don’t know how long it will take. down, which is good,” he said after the 100m final.
Helping the athletes to reach the peak in this event was the goal of the coach. “Everything has been leading up to this, so everything that has happened before that is for them to prepare for this competition. Post that, we have to see what happens in terms of who gets selected to the (CWG) team. We have to go back to the drawing board and plan for that competition,” explained Hillier.
With the National record falling by 0.09 seconds, the coach revealed conversations with his wards about the sub-10 second mark, as it rarely comes. “What we’re really talking about is nine-nine-eight (9.98) so I say, ‘what’s the profile of a nine-nine-eight athlete? What do you need to run in training? So we’ve done all the markers now, we know what split time they need to run and we’ve calculated what they need to lift in the gym,'” he explained.
“Now we’re building towards that and if they can do that in training, that tells me they’re capable of nine-nine-eight or sub-ten, then that’s the case for them to do. All we’re going to do is just keep pushing. It’s going the right way,” he said.
Under-45 runs for Vishal
Quarter miler Vishal TK improved his national record by clocking 44.98 seconds in the men’s 400m final. While he would miss out on the qualifying spot by just two-tenths of a second, his run brought joy to those close to him. First, his father Thennarasu ran across the finish line and shared a tight hug, before his coach Jason Dawson broke character, ran up to him and hugged his ward. The two together shouted, “History! History!” It was a fun moment for Dawson and his neighborhood.
