Athletics, India: National marks
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
National marks
100m
100m: men
The Times of India, April 29, 2016
From: [From the archives, Oct 12, 2023: The Times of India]
See graphic:
Men’s 100 metre national record 1952- October 2023
10.26 sec : AmiyaMallick. It was heartbreak for Mallick. An extraordinary day for the athlete from Odisha was spoiled due to apulled muscle during the semifinals. Such was his form that he set a new meet record in the heats with 10.35 in the morning before improving the timings to 10.26 sec to set a national record in the semifinals despite pulling a muscle during the race.The injury affected his performance in the final as he finished fourth at 10.51.The earlier record was jointly held by AN Quereshi and Anil Kumar at 10.30.The qualification mark for Rio Games for men 10.16 secs.
100m: women
11.29 sec / 2018: Dutee Chand, age 22 (By way of comparison, the gold medal winners in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games had clocked 11.33 and 11.48 respectively.)
11.28 seconds Dutee Chand 2019
Previous: 11.33 Sec/ 2016 Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand, then age 20, set a new national record in in the Federation Cup athletics in 2016. Dutee, who has had her share of upheavals in the past, having to fight her way back to the track after winning a court case against the international body (IAAF) following her ouster from the sport due to a hyperandrogenism charge, missed out an Olympic berth by a 100th of a second. The 11.33 seconds that she returned was enough to eclipse the existing record of 11.38 secs set by Rachita Mistry in 2000. The qualification mark for the Rio Olympic Games for women was 11.32 secs
200m
Men
20.45 seconds: Dharambir Singh (at the fourth Indian GP, Bengaluru, 2016).
20.52 Amlan Borgohain 2022
20.63 Muhammed Anas Yahiya
20.66s Dharambir Singh: (Asian meet in Wuhan, China, 2015). Dharambir has served a two-year ban for doping in 2012.
Caution While both entries for Dharambir Singh Have been taken from extremely reliable sources like India Times- The Times of India, for some reason other equally reliable sources do not mention his records at all, perhaps because of the doping ban
Women
22.82s, Saraswati Saha, 2002
23.26 s Dhanalakshmi Sekar, 2021 Federation Cup, meet record
23.30s PT Usha, 1998 Federation Cup, meet record
400m
Women
Hima Das 51.46s in 2018
The 18-year-old from Assam, who had clocked the fastest times in the two earlier rounds at Tampere, once again produced a strong finish to bring the historic gold in 51.46s.
India’s long wait for a track gold at an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships is over. Hima Das, who virtually went into the final as the top seed, lived up to that billing taking the women’s 400m gold at the world under-20 athletics championships at Tampere (Finland) on Thursday.
The 18-year-old from Assam, who had clocked the fastest times in the two earlier rounds at Tampere, once again produced a strong finish to bring the historic gold in 51.46s.
She was slightly behind around the 300m but as the others appeared to fade away, Hima – who personal best stands at 51.13s, proved that she had enough gas in the tank to take the medal that mattered.
Two years ago, when javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra stunned the country by winning the under-20 World in Poland, nobody had an inkling that a track gold was just one edition away.
But Hima is no stranger to the big stage. Around this time last year, she took the fifth spot in the 200m at the Youth Worlds in Nairobi. And she was sixth in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April.
Sreeshankar sixth
Kerala’s junior national record holder M. Sreeshankar, who went into the men’s long jump as the world’s fourth best junior jumper this year with his personal best 7.99m, finished sixth on Wednesday night with 7.75m, which came in his second attempt.
Japan’s Yuki Hashioka won the gold with 8.03m and he was the only jumper to cross 8m. Cuban Maikal Y. Vidal, the world leader, took the silver with 7.94m.
Later, Indonesia’s Lalu Muhammed Zohri pulled off a huge surprise, winning the men’s 100m for his country’s first-ever gold at the under-20 Worlds. Running in the eighth lane, Lalu, also the Asian junior champion, clocked 10.18s and emerged as the fastest man.
Hima’s coach Nipon Das, who has been a mentor to the rookie since spotting her in January last year, said her confidence was the key to her success.
“She does not get overawed by anybody and does not care about her opponents. In every race, her goal is to beat the best with better timing,” Nipon told The Hindu.
“Monjai [I wanted this],” Hima had revealed after the race. Nipon pointed out that it was not easy to beat Nirmala, who was six-seven meters ahead in the home stretch.
4x400m relay
Men
2:59.05 seconds (Asian record), 2023 Aug Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh. The Times of India added: ‘A lot of credit for the stupendous show should go to Rajesh Ramesh, who ran the anchor leg and got the better of his British counterpart.’
The previous Asian record of 2:59.51 was in the name of Japan .
3:00.25 seconds: India’s earlier national record was achieved by the quartet of Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob, Rajiv Arokia and Noah Nirmal Tom. Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
3 minutes, 00.91 seconds (2016)
3:02.17 also (2016)
Jul 11 2016 : The Times of India (Delhi) Biju BabuCyriac Bengaluru:
None of the Indian athletes managed to meet the Olympic qualification marks in individual events on Sunday but the men's and women's 4x400m relay squads came up with two stunning performances as they almost booked their berths for the Rio Games in the 3rd Indian Grand Prix here.
Anchored by Arokia Rajiv, the men's quartet, trained by Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik and also comprising Kunhu Mohammed, Mohammed Anas and A Dharun clocked 3 minutes, 00.91 seconds that shaved off almost two seconds from the the national record time of 3:02.17 set by the same squad in Turkey last month. The new time, clocked with Maldives as the second international team, helped India jump from 18th to 13th spot in the world ranking list. The top-16 nations will make the cut based on the July 12 ranking list.
Rajiv, the 400m bronze winner at the Incheon Asian Games.
The quartet, bettered the 18-year-old [1998?] mark in Turkey .
Women
3:27.88s 2016)
2016: The women's 4x400m relay squad, who are already in the mix for a Rio berth, enhanced their chances with a winning time of 3:27.88s. The team comprising Nirmala, Tintu Luka, MR Poovamma and Anilda Thomas reclaimed the 12th spot in the ranking list after dropping down to 14th on Sunday morning.
800m
Men
National record: Jinson Johnson 1:45.65s (June 2018: National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships in Guwahati)
Sriram Singh: 1:45.77s, July 25, 1976 (Montreal Olympics in 1976)
Jinson Johnson 1:45.98s (at the fourth Indian GP, Bengaluru, 2016). His previous personal best was 1:46.43s at Hyderabad, 2016.
1500m
Women
4:04.78: KM Deeksha, Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles, 2024
4:05.39 Harmilan Kaur Bains, National Open Athletics Championships, Warangal, 2021.
4:06.03 Sunita Rani, Busan Asian Games, 2002.
3000m
Women
8:57.19 Parul Chaudhary 2022
9:04.5 Suriya Loganathan 2016
5000m
Men
13:11.82 seconds Gulveer Singh. 2024 Sept at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup
13:18.92 Gulveer Singh 2024 Portland Track Festival High Performance Meet
13:19.30 Avinash Sable 2023
13:25. 65s Avinash Sable –-2022
13:29. 70 Bahadur Prasad –-1992
13:35. 69 Lakshmanan G –-2017
13:37. 40 Kheta Ram –-2014
13:40. 45 Surendra Singh –-2009
...
13:54.72s Bahadur Singh in 1994. At the time it was a meet record for the National Open Athletics Championships
Women
15:10:35 Parul Chaudhary 2023
15:15. 89 Preeja Sreedharan 2010
10,000m
Men
Extracted, inter alia, from Murali 2nd fastest Indian in 10,000m, June 13, 2018: The Times of India
27.41.81 Gulveer Singh, 2024: in his heat at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano in California.
28:02.89s: Surendra Singh, 2008. This record stood unbeaten for 16 years
28.17.21 Gulveer Singh 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games
28:43.34 seconds Gavit Murali Kumar. Surendra Singh has run faster than Gavit Murali Kumar’s best on four occasions
28. 48. 72 Hari Chand, 1976. The record stayed intact for almost 30 years
Half marathon (21. 0975km)
1:00:30s Avinash Mukund Sable 2020
High jump
Men
2.28 metres, set by Tejaswin Shankar, representing Kanasas State University, at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Manhattan, USA, May 2021
2.26m: set by Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi, age 17, at the National Junior Athletics meet, Coimbatore, 2016.
2.25m: set by Harishankar Roy of West Bengal at Asian All-Stars meet in Singapore in 2004.
Junior men
2.26m: set by Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi, age 17, at the National Junior Athletics meet, Coimbatore, 2016.
2.17m: set by S Harshith of Karnataka in 2011.
U20 women
1.83m/ 2024 Pooja Singh(then age 17, hails from Fatehbad district of Haryana)
Hurdles
Men
110m
13.41s Tejas Shirse at the Motonet GP in Jyvaskyla, Finland 2024
13.48s Siddhanth Thingalaya, 2017.
Women
60m/ indoor
8.13s Jyothi Yarraji 2023: This was the fifth time in five weeks (January- Feb 2023) that Jyothi Yarraji set India's national record in women's 60m hurdles
8.16s Jyothi Yarraji 2023
100m hurdles
12.78 seconds: Jyothi Yarraji, 2023, Chengdu
12.82 seconds: Jyothi Yarraji, 2022.
100m/ outdoor
13. 11 seconds Jyothi Yarraji 2022 May 23: Loughborough Wind speed of +0. 3m/s
13. 23 seconds: Jyothi Yarraji, 2022 May 10 Cyprus (under a head wind speed of 0. 1m/s)
13. 38 seconds: Anuradha Biswal, 2002
[12. 79s Jyothi Yarraji in 2022 Oct: her timing wasn’t registered as an NR as it came with +2. 5m/s wind assist
13. 09 seconds: Jyothi Yarraji, 2022 April Kozhikode. Since the wind speed was +2. 1 m/s, this was not registered as a national record]
400m hurdles
55.42 seconds: PT Usha had set this record while finishing fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 2023 Sept this was the second-oldest national record in athletics.
Javelin throw
Men
89. 94m Neeraj Chopra 2022 June
89.3m Neeraj Chopra 2022/ I
87.58m Neeraj Chopra
Women
63.24m Annu Rani, 2021
62.43m. Annu Rani, earlier
Long jump
Men
Long jump, outdoor (men)
8. 42m Jeswin Aldrin 2023
8. 36m: Murali Sreeshankar, 2022, Federation Cup, Tenjhipalam. (Jeswin Aldrin produced a jump of 8. 37m which could not be ratified as a record due to a wind reading of 4. 1m/s.)
8.26m: Murali Sreeshankar, 2021, Federation Cup, Patiala,
8.20m: M Sreeshankar, 2018, at the Open Athletics Championships, Bhubaneshwar
8.19m: Ankit Sharma
Long jump, indoor (men)
7.97m Jeswin Aldrin, 2023
7.93 m Jeswin Aldrin, 2023
7.92 m Prem Kumar (2016)
7.92 m Murali Sreeshankar (2022 World Indoor Championships).
Women
6.83m, Anju Bobby George, 2004
6.76m Shaili Singh, 2023
6.66m, Neena V (at the fourth Indian GP, Bengaluru, 2016.
National Open Athletics
Sreeshankar breaks long jump record
Sam Chakraborty, September 28, 2018: The Times of India
Gavit Wins His Second Gold In National Athletics
M Sreeshankar finished sixth during the recently-concluded Asian Games in Jakarta and few expected the long jumper to script a recordshattering feat at the 58th National Open Athletics Championships here on Thursday. The 19-year-old had other ideas, though. Under lights, the Kerala athlete produced a stunning jump of 8.20m to break Ankit Sharma’s national record of 8.19m. The clinching jump came in his fifth attempt.
Giving him company on the podium was Services’ Jinesh Vo, who jumped 7.95m while Sahil Mahabali of Haryana finished third with a jump of 7.81m.
Railways discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, too, eked out a performance that would be remembered for a long time. With three of her five attempts declared foul because of overstepping, Kaur’s sixth and final throw was her chance at redemption and she grabbed it with both hands. Kaur’s last throw went as far as 56.11m and brought her the coveted gold medal. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon and Sandeep Kumari ensured a clean sweep for the Railways as they won silver and bronze medals, respectively. While Dhillon threw 54.84m, Kumari recorded a throw of 53.96m.
Karnataka’s Khyati Vakharia had set her sights on breaking the national and meet record in pole vault which stood in the name of VS Surekha at a height of 4.15m. While the 29 year-old did muster a height of 4.00m to land the gold, she failed in three consecutive attempts to hit the 4.05m mark that would have allowed her to try further. Krishna Rachan of Railways gave her a good fight to finish with silver at 3.95m while Vakharia’s teammate Maria Jaison clinched bronze with 3.70m.
Gujarat’s Murlikumar Gavit, who had won gold in the 10,000m men’s final, won his second gold in men’s 5000m as he crossed the line in 14:35.96 seconds. Composed and alert, Gavit produced another stellar performance to win comfortably.
Marathon
Men
National record
2:12:00 Shivnath Singh, 1978. In 2023 Sept this was the oldest national record in athletics.
Thonakal first Indian man to win Asian Marathon
Runner Gopi makes history, November 27, 2017: The Times of India
Becomes 1st Indian Man To Win Asian Marathon Title
Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship after he achieved the feat in the 16th edition of the prestigious event here in China Thonakal clocked 2 hours, 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch the gold. Andrey Petrov of Uzbekistan bagged the silver with a timing of 2:15:51s, while Byambalev Tseveenravdan of Mongolia won bronze by clocking 2:16:14s.
The 29-year-old from Kerala had won the New Delhi Marathon in 2.15.37 earlier this year. He was 28th in the London World Championships in August with a timing of 2:17:13. In the Rio Olympics last year, he had clockedhis personal bestof 2.15.25 while finishing 25th.
“I am proud to have won a gold for my country. I am also proud to become the first Indian man to have won a gold in this championship,” Thonakal said after the race.
Thonakal is the third Indian overall to have won a gold in the event. Asha Agarwal won the women’s title in 1985 when the event was a part of the biennial Asian Track and Field Championships. Sunita Godara won the women’s title in 1992 after the event was moved out as a separate one away from the Asian Athletics Championships in 1988.
Pentathlon
Women's
Indoor
4119 points Swapna Barman, 2023
4062 points: (Purnima)
Race Walking
35km race walk
Men
2:32.36s Ram Baboo, 2023 Feb
2:36. 34s Ram Baboo, 2022 Oct
2:40. 16s Juned Khan of Haryana, 2022
Women
2:57. 54 Manju Rani, 2023
3:00. 04s Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab 2022
3:13. 19s Priyanka Goswami 2022
20km
Men
1.19.55 Akashdeep Singh, 2023
1:20.16, Sandeep Kumar, 2021
Women: 20-km
1:28:45: Priyanka Goswami, at the 8th open national and 4th international race walking championship in Ranchi, 2021
1:29.54: Bhawna Jat, 2020
Shot put
Men
21. 77m Tajinder Pal Toor Asian record, 2023
21.49m Tajinderpal Singh Toor, 2021; This is an Asian record. Even before this Toor was an Asian Games champion
20.92m Tajinderpal Singh Toor, 2019
Women
18.41m Abha Khatua, Maharashtra, at the National Senior Federation athletics championship, 2024
18. 06m Manpreet Kaur 2022, June
18.06m Abha Khatua, 202?
17. 96m Manpreet Kaur 2015
Steeplechase
Men: 3000m
8: 9.91 Avinash Sable at Diamond League, Paris, 2024
8:11.20, Avinash Sable, 2022
8:12:48 Avinash Sable, 2022 June
8:16:21 Avinash Sable, 2022 March
8:19:50 Avinash Sable, 2023, Asian Games (but not Asian) record
8:20:20s Avinash Sable, 2021 March Patiala
8:21:37s Avinash Sable, 2019 Doha World Championships final
8:25:23s Avinash Sable, 2019 Doha World Championships heats
8:28:94s Avinash Sable, 2019 Federation Cup
8:29:80s Avinash Sable, 2018 Open Nationals
8:30:88s Gopal Saini
2018: Services’ then 24- year-old Sable Avinash: 08:29.80 seconds
1981: Gopal Saini’s national record of 08:30.88
Women 3000m
9.51.31s Parul Chaudhary: 2023 - 3000m Steeplechase
2016 Aug: Lalita Babar (9 minutes, 19.76 seconds) clipped nearly seven seconds off Sudha’s record to create a new national record at the Rio Olympics .
2016 May: Sudha Singh (9:26.55) set a new national mark in Shanghai.
2016 April: Lalita Babar clocked 9:27.09 at Delhi in the Federation Cup in, which was the then national mark.
Triple jump
Men
17. 37m Praveen Chithravel 2023
17.30m: Renjith Maheswary (at the fourth Indian GP, Bengaluru, 2016). It was Renjith's third time above the 17m mark and the first after his bronze medal winning leap of 17.07m at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
17.19m 2022 Abdulla Aboobacker
17.17m in 2014 Arpinder Singh.
17. 10m 2022 Karthik Unnikrishnan
17.09m 2018 Arpinder Singh (the then reigning Asian Games gold medallist
U-20 national record
16. 58m T Selva Prabhu 2023
Triple jump, indoor
16.98m Praveen Chitravel, 2023
16.26m Amarjeet Singh (in 2008 Doha) .
Women
14. 14m B Aishwarya 2022
14. 11m Mayookha Johny 2011
India records vis-à-vis world/ international records
Till 2021 June
Team TOI Plus, July 17, 2021: The Times of India
From: Team TOI Plus, July 17, 2021: The Times of India
From: Team TOI Plus, July 17, 2021: The Times of India
From: Team TOI Plus, July 17, 2021: The Times of India
There were similarities between the two athletes. Singh missed out on a medal in the 400 m race by 0.1 seconds. Usha was adjudged to have finished fourth in the 400 m hurdles by 1/100th of a second. Indian track and field athletes have never come as heartbreakingly close at the Olympics since.
And there’s no bigger sign than the national records to indicate how far behind India’s track and field athletes are. For example, the Indian men’s national record for 800 metres race was a world record as far back as 1962. In comparison, the current world record is 1 minute 40 seconds and 91 milliseconds, which is nearly five seconds faster than India’s national record.
Most of India’s national records were world records in the 1960s and 1970s. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s national record is the closest to a recent world record, given his throw of 88.07 metres would have topped the global records chart back in 1990.
In the case of women’s track and field records, Usha’s record at the 1984 Los Angeles games still stands after close to four decades. But even Usha’s timing trailed the world record, which was set six years earlier in 1978. But that is the closest an Indian woman athlete has come to a world record.
Most of the women’s records - like the men - are stuck in the 1970s. Lalita Babar’s record in the 3000 m steeplechase would have been a world record in 2002. Babar, who became the first to qualify for a finals of an athletics event at the Olympics after Usha, set the national record at the Rio games in 2016.
Research: Shankar Raghuraman, Graphics: Sajeev Kumarapuram
India’s rank in the world
88 years: The gap between world’s best & India’s best/ in 2024
From: August 7, 2024: The Times of India
See graphic:
Indian national records in 2024 and the year in which world records were at this level
India’s performance at Olympics has markedly improved since 2008, when Abhinav Bindra won our first individual gold medal and the country’s medal tally grew beyond one! The count touched 7 in Tokyo. But doing better relative to past is one thing. Doing better than others is quite another. Right now, at Paris Games, China has 13 gold compared with India’s 3 bronze. Brazil and South Africa (part of BRICS) are doing better. Atul Thakur compares India’s best with world’s best in 10 selected events to highlight the gap the country has to cover to be counted as a sporting powerhouse.
Narrowly missing a medal
(See also The Olympics: IndiaI
HEART BREAKS
The Times of India Sep 24 2014
Saurav Ghosal narrowly missed out on winning the gold medal in squash for India (Asiad 2014). TOI takes a look at other occasions where Indian athletes faltered on the doorstep of glory
WOMEN'S 800M, 1986 SEOUL ASIAD
SHINY ABRAHAM'S lane change
Shiny Abraham had just completed her 800m race, way ahead of her competitors. But she was aghast when the race officials announced that she had disqualified. Her fault: She had changed her lane a bit too early in the race. Shiny's mistake had cost India a gold.
She, however, managed to win a silver in another event 400m behind PT Usha. In all, India finished with nine medals in athletics events in Seoul including four gold.
WOMEN'S ARCHERY GUANGZHOU 2010
INDIVIDUAL BRONZE MEDAL PLAYOFF,
DEEPIKA KUMARI'S 2-6 loss against Kwon-un Sil of Korea India have won very few medals in archery and none in the women's individual category so far. Deepika Kumari came tantalisingly close to bag one when she made it to the play-off in the individual event in Guangzhou. She cruised through the first few rounds before losing to eventual winner Yun Ok-hee of Korea. She missed a medal narrowly as she lost to Kwon-un Sil in the bronze medal playoff. There was some consolation for her though, as she teamed up with Dola Banerjee and Rimil Buriuly to claim the bronze in the women's team event.
WOMEN'S TENNIS, 2006 DOHA ASIAD
SINGLES FINAL
SANIA MIRZA 4-6, 6-1, 1-6 loss against Zheng Jie of China She was in top form, having won her group stage matches and the quarterfinal in straight sets. In the semifinal, she beat the then Asian No.1 and top seed Li Na 6-2, 6-2 to book a final berth against Zheng Jie, also of China. Sania started tentatively to lose the first set, but bounced back to draw parity with a 6-1 win in the second. But the scorching heat took its toll as the Indian struggled in the third to lose the match and a chance to win a historic gold for the country. She had her moments to rejoice, however, when hours later she returned to the court with Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles gold medal.
MEN'S 10M AIR PISTOL, INCHEON 2014
TEAM EVENT
INDIA LOSE silver to China by a whisker India and China were level on points after the final in the men's 10m Air Pistol event. Rai (585 points), Samaresh Jung (580) and Prakash Nanjappa (578) took India's score to 1743 points, the same as China. The silver was decided by the number of Xs (bullseye) in which China tallied one more 65 to India's 64.
MEN'S HOCKEY FINAL, 2002 BUSAN GAMES
INDIA'S 3-4 loss against Korea India had it easy in the group stage, winning their first two matches comfortably. The semi-final against Pakistan was a close one, but India held their nerve to advance. However, in the final, nothing seemed to go right for India in they conceded three goals. But things started to change as they pumped in three goals in five minutes. Even though the scores were level at that time, India clearly had the upper hand. But just as they were getting closer to a historic win, Korea scored in the 68th minute to pour water on Indian hopes.
See also
Athletics, India: National marks
