A monumental week for Indian Athletics

Ever since Neeraj Chopra's historic men's javelin gold in Tokyo, belief has begun to seep in to Indian athletics. Of that there is no doubt. And if there were any, the last week would have dispelled all of it.

At the Federation Cup 2026 in Ranchi which is still under way , in stressful conditions where a marathon runner was disoriented to the extent that he was disqualified and received treatment, multiple long-standing barriers in Indian athletics, came crashing down.

Vishal TK, the lithe quarter miler from Kerala, began the show by becoming the first Indian ever to go below the 45sec mark, clocking a historic 44.98sec breaking his own national record of 45.12 in the process. 

Then Gurindervir Singh, the affable Sikh, smashed the 10.1sec barrier to win the 100m dash with a timing of 10.09sec over training mate and rival Animesh Kujur. The way the two went hammer and tongs at each other over the heats and the final, has now raised serious hopes of an Indian going sub-10 for the very first time.

Carrying on, the inimitable Tejaswin Shankar, shattered the 8000 point barrier to win it and if that was not enough, Madhya Pradesh mates Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar, enthralled the sparse gathering to a thrilling men's pole vault, becoming the first Indians ever to cross 5.45mts.

What's heartening about all those four performances is that they have all been steady incremental improvements achieved over a period of time through dedication and professional support. Dev Meena just the other day was clearing 4.10mts at the Khelo India Youth Games, for example.

The next big test for Indian athletics will be the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where the standards are quite high. But even then we had an Avinash Sable scuttle the traditional Kenyan 1-2-3 in Steeplechase at the last Games and something on those lines can definitely be expected this time around.

There is momentum in Olympic sports now, as mentioned in my previous dispatch as well, and let's hope many more such barriers will be broken leading up to the LA Games.