Kochi, Apr 24: Odisha sprinter Animesh Kujur ran a blazing 200m race as he smashed the 200m national record, clocking 20.40 seconds to win the gold medal on the final day of the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition here on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Kujur, who had earlier won a silver in men’s 100m, ran a brilliant race to better Amlan Borgohain’s earlier national record of 20.52 seconds set in 2022. Borgohain, representing Reliance, finished second with 20.80 seconds.
With his 20.40 seconds effort, Kujur became the current Asian leader and joint 35th best in the world in the season so far.
Kujur, however, missed the World Championships qualifying time of 20.16 seconds which is a very tough ask for an Indian 200m runner.
He, however, bettered the Asian Championships qualifying time of 20.53 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
In men’s triple jump, Praveen Chithravel equalled his own national record of 17.37m and qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.
The 23-year-old Chithravel, representing JSW, cleared the national record-equalling distance in his third attempt to take the gold on the final day of competitions. He had first set the national record in Havana, Cuba, in May 2023.
His effort breached the World Championships qualifying distance of 17.22m. The World Championships will be held in Tokyo from September.
Abdulla Aboobacker of Air Force finished second with a jump of 16.99m, while Mohammed Muhassin, also of JSW, was third with an effort of 16.28m.
Chithravel, hailing from Tamil Nadu, struggled most part of last year, going beyond 17m only once. He finished 12th in his qualifying round group in the Paris Olympics with a poor effort of 16.25m.
This year, Chithravel began brightly, winning gold in the Uttarakhand National Games in February through a mediocre jump of 16.50m. He then produced a 17.13m effort at the Indian Open Jumps Competition in Bengaluru in March, before Thursday’s national record equalling performance. (PTI)
