Gurindervir Singh lowered the men’s 100m national record time to 10.09 seconds in a sensational race at the National Senior Federation Competition in Ranchi on Saturday. While,
Vishal TK became the first Indian to run 400m below 45 seconds and decathlete Tejaswin Shankar emerged as the first from the country to accumulate 8000 points.
It turned out to be a historic second day of the event as Gurindervir clocked Asia’s second fastest time this season, while Vishal did even better as his 44.98 seconds effort is the continent’s best so far this year.
In yet another remarkable achievement, Asian Games silver medallist Tejaswin became the first Indian decathlete to cross the 8000-point mark, breaking his own national record in the process. His new score also puts him seventh on the all-time Asian list.
Representing Reliance Foundation, the 27-year-old finished with 8057 points in the demanding 10-event competition, improving on his previous national record of 7947 that he had set last year. Thowfeeq N of NCOE Trivandrum finished a distant second with 7530 points.
Tejaswin, who has held the Indian men’s high jump national record of 2.29m since 2018, also crossed the qualification mark of 7787 points for the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The men’s 100m battle between Gurindervir and former national record holder Animesh Kujur will be remembered for a long time in Indian athletics. The same goes for Vishal’s stunning performance, as his timing of 44.98 seconds is now the fastest in Asia this season.
The day witnessed three national records being broken, with two of them falling within just 30 minutes.
The 22-year-old Vishal, representing Tamil Nadu, has already been making headlines since breaking the men’s 400m national record with a timing of 45.12 seconds in Chennai last year.
On Saturday, he took it a step further with an incredible run of 44.98 seconds, becoming the first Indian athlete to go below the 45-second mark in the 400m.
In the process, he also bettered the 2026 Commonwealth Games qualification timing of 44.96 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India. His timing also took him to the top of the Asian list this season, ahead of Ammar Ismail Ibrahim, who had clocked 45.16 seconds in April.
“Athletics fans will certainly keep a track of me when I compete at the global level,” said Vishal after conquering new territory on Saturday.
Speaking about his preparation for the race, Vishal said he had already visualised breaking the barrier.
“I was confident of breaking 45 seconds today,” said the Tamil Nadu athlete.
Another Tamil Nadu runner, Rajesh Ramesh, finished second with a timing of 45.31 seconds, while Uttar Pradesh’s Jay Kumar came third in 45.47 seconds.
In the men’s 100m event, Odisha’s Animesh had entered the competition as the favourite after setting the national record of 10.18 seconds last year. But on Friday, Gurindervir shocked everyone by clocking 10.17 seconds in the first semifinal to break the record.
Just five minutes later, the 22-year-old Animesh responded dramatically by running 10.15 seconds in the second semifinal and reclaiming the national record. The Indian men’s 100m record was broken twice within minutes.
However, on Saturday, Punjab sprinter Gurindervir, had the final say. He became the first Indian sprinter to run below 10.10 seconds. He finished 0.11 seconds ahead of Animesh.
After the race, Gurindervir held up a white sheet of paper that read: “Task is not finished yet. Wait I am still standing” with “10.10” written on it.
“This record is to prove that I’m not finished and still have power in my legs,” said Gurindervir in post-race interaction.
His coach James Hillier believes the sprinter can improve even further in the coming months.
“He is learning to execute the plans in the races and his performance graph is getting better,” said Hillier.
Pranav Gurav, also representing Reliance Foundation, finished third with a timing of 10.29 seconds.
Gurindervir also crossed the qualification mark of 10.16 seconds for the 2026 Commonwealth Games set by the Athletics Federation of India. His timing of 10.09 seconds is currently the second-fastest in Asia this season, behind Japanese sprinter Fukuto Komuro, who clocked 10.08 seconds in May.
Results:
Men:
100m: Gurindervir Singh (Reliance) 10.09, Animesh Kujur (Odisha) 10.20 secs, Pranav Pramod (Reliance) 10.29 secs.
400m: Vishal TK (Tamil Nadu) 44.98 secs, Rajesh Ramesh (Tamil Nadu) 45.31 secs, Jay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 45.47 secs.
Decathlon: Tejaswin Shankar (Reliance) 8057 points, Thowfeeq N (NCOE Trivandrum) 7530 points, Gokul KR (Navy) 7157 points.
Women:
100m: Sudeshna H (Maharashtra) 11.56 secs, Giridharani Ravikumar (Tamil Nadu) 11.58 secs, Tamanna (Haryana) 11.62 secs.
400m: Vithya Ramjaj (Tamil Nadu) 52.22 secs, Ansa Babi (All India Police) 53.07 secs, Prachi (JSW) 53.26 secs.
1500m: Pooja (JSW) 4:11.34, Ankita (Uttarakhand) 4:12.28, Anju (Haryana) 4:21.26.
Javelin throw: Shilpa Rani (Haryana) 56.46m, Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 55.61m, Rashmi K (Andhra Pradesh) 54.85m.
Shot put: Krishna Jayashankar (Reliance) 17.35m, Yogita (Haryana) 16.82m, Shiksha (Reliance) 16.61m.
Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (Tamil Nadu) 4.10m, Nitika Anup (Madhya Pradesh) 4.10m, Krishna Rachan (Railway sports) 3.90m.
Triple jump: Niharika Vashisht (Punjab) 13.64m, Bhairabi Roy (Railway sports) 13.28m, Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 13.28m.
