Vishal TK and Gurindervir Singh
Ranchi: Gurindervir Singh ran a sensational race to lower the men’s 100m national record time to 10.09 seconds while Vishal TK became the first Indian to run 400m below 45 seconds on a historic second day of the National Senior Federation Competition here on Saturday.
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 astounding achievement, Asian Games silver medallist Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian to cross the 8000-point mark in the Decathlon, smashing his own national record. His points tally now places him number seven on the Asian all-time list.
Representing Reliance Foundation, Tejaswin accumulated 8057 points in the gruelling 10-event discipline to better his own national record of 7947 set last year.
The 100m showdown between Gurindervir and previous national record holder Animesh Kujur in this meet will be remembered for ages in Indian athletics. The same will also be the case with Vishal’s exploits, whose time of 44.98 seconds is the best in Asia so far this season.
The day saw two national records being broken within a span of 30 minutes.
The 22-year-old Vishal, representing Tamil Nadu, has been one of the most talked about Indian athletes after he smashed the men’s 400m national record with his 45.12 seconds effort in Chennai last year.
On Saturday, he cemented his status with a stunning run of 44.98 seconds to become the first Indian to clock sub-45 seconds.
In the process, he went past the 2026 Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 44.96 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Also, his 44.98 seconds topped the Asian top list, going ahead of Ammar Ismail Ibrahim, who clocked 45.16 seconds in April.
Another Tamil Nadu athlete, Rajesh Ramesh, clocked 45.31 seconds to finish second, while Jay Kumar of Uttar Pradesh was third with 45.47 seconds.
In the men’s 100m, Animesh, representing Odisha, had come into the meet as the favourite with his national record time of 10.18 seconds set last year. But on the opening day on Friday, the 25-year-old Gurindervir lowered it to 10.17 seconds in the first semifinal heat.
But just five minutes later, the 22-year-old Animesh ran 10.15 seconds in the second semifinal heat to regain his national record in dramatic circumstances. The men’s 100m national record was smashed twice within minutes on Friday.
On Saturday, Punjab athlete Gurindervir, representing Reliance Foundation here, had the last laugh in the final race as he became the first Indian sprinter to run below 10.10 seconds.
In the process, he ran 0.11 seconds faster than Animesh and crossed the finish line at least a couple of feet ahead of his younger rival.
Pranav Gurav, also of Reliance Foundation, was third with a time of 10.29 seconds.
Gurindervir breached the 2026 Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 10.16 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). His time of 10.09 seconds is the second fastest time by an Asian so far this season, behind 10.08 seconds clocked by 19-year-old Japanese sprinter Fukuto Komuro in May.
This post was last modified on May 24, 2026 5:15 pm