Harmilan Kaur Bains
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
As in 2021 Sept
Tridib Baparnash, Sep 17, 2021: The Times of India
Harmilan is back with a bang, breaks 1500m record
On June 21, Patiala girl Harmilan Kaur Bains was inconsolable when she narrowly missed out of the qualifying mark of 4:04.20 for the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 1500m event. Battling stomach cramps, Harmilan clocked an impressive 4:08.27 at the Indian Grand Prix-4. A week later, the heat in Patiala took a toll on her performance, but she still ended up with two gold medal (800m & 1500m) at the Senior National Championships. She knew her Tokyo dreams were over, but vowed to come back stronger.
Harmilan made a grand comeback as she eclipsed Sunita Rani’s 19-year-old national record on the second day of the 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal. The 23-year-old from Punjab clocked 4:05.39 to erase the mark set by Sunita (4:06.03) in the Busan Asian Games in 2002.
Harmilan, who had shifted her training base to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh due to the Covid-19 protocols at the NIS, Patiala, has shown rapid progress in the past one year, improving from 4:14.68 in the Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneswar last year to 4:08.70 and 4:08.27 at the Federation Cup (March 16) and Indian Grand Prix-4 (June 21) respectively, in Patiala.
Despite the record, Harmilan’s effort narrowly fell short of the 1500m qualification mark of 4.04.20 for the World Championships in 2022. For now, the youngster is content. “Yeah, that qualifying mark was at the back of my mind, but it’s all God’s plans, we have to abide by whatever He plans,” Harmilan told TOI.
“For Tokyo, after the second wave, we have had only two tournaments to make it to the Olympics, so there was an added pressure. Also, the heat in Patiala was unbearable in June. But I am happy with my performance today, breaking a 19-year-old record. It was at the same Busan Asian Games, where my mother (Madhuri Singh) took the 800m silver,” she added with a smile.
Born to former middle-distance runners Amandeep Bains (South Asian Games medallist in 1500m) and Madhuri, Harmilan has stretched her unbeaten run to eight national-level 1500m races.
