NEW DELHI: “Baap re baap (Oh my gosh!)” — Animesh Kujur might barely address the humidity because the 2025 athletics season was nonetheless selecting up tempo in Chennai.Together with a bunch of opponents, April’s Indian Open Athletics Meet introduced punishing warmth and stifling humidity. For the 21-year-old from Odisha, it was too scorching to deal with.“I really bought heatstroke each earlier than and after the occasions. I needed to run 4 races in a single day and simply couldn’t keep hydrated,” Animesh, Asia’s present top-ranked 200m sprinter, tells TimesofIndia.com in a free-wheeling chat.Go Past The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“We didn’t plan hydration correctly. I prepare in considerably comparable circumstances in Odisha, however I didn’t suppose it’d be that excessive.”
Battling warmth
Simply 5 days later, Animesh was as a consequence of race on the Senior Federation Cup in Kochi. As the acute Kerala warmth made nationwide headlines, coaching was out of the query; restoration was all he might handle. “I wasn’t certain if I’d be capable of carry out effectively there both,” he recollects.Nonetheless nursing fatigue, he certified for the ultimate and clocked 20.60 seconds within the semis. “I might really feel I used to be operating at 95% of my potential.”
With stalwarts like Manikanta Hoblidhar (former 100m nationwide document holder) and Amlan Borgohain (former 100m and 200m nationwide document holder) within the combine, the ultimate wanted greater than potential.“I caught to my plan and pushed onerous within the final 100 metres. After crossing the end line, I didn’t have fun. I used to be simply staring on the clock, ready to see if I’d gone beneath 20.50.”Then it flashed: 20.40 seconds. A brand new nationwide document.
Animesh Kujur
“It felt unreal,” Animesh recollects. What adopted was a well-recognized celebration, arms pointed to the sky in a lightning bolt, a tribute to his idol.“After I bought into athletics in 2021, the one identify I knew was Usain Bolt; tall, skinny, a bit like me, even the identical pores and skin tone,” he laughs. “Over the past two years, I’ve began main the 100m and 200m fields in India. Bolt has been such an enormous inspiration that I at all times attempt to recreate his signature pose.”
Breaking data
Breaking data is now Animesh’s behavior. Later in April, he teamed up with Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta, and Amlan on the Nationwide Relay Carnival in Chandigarh.The quartet clocked 38.69 seconds to set a brand new nationwide document within the males’s 4x100m relay, after only one coaching session collectively.Animesh, who trains in Bhubaneswar, needed to be part of the others in Mumbai simply earlier than the meet. “James Hillier sir (the athletics director at Reliance Basis) helped us loads with baton exchanges, the steps, the rhythm, every part,” says Animesh. “My coach, Martin Owens, manages every part: how I eat, sleep, behave, and the place I’m going. Simply two years in the past, my life was fully completely different. Now it’s absolutely skilled. I can really feel the distinction,” he admits.
Soccer’s loss, athletics’ acquire
Athletics, nonetheless, wasn’t initially in his scheme of issues, as Animesh began out taking part in soccer in class.“Throughout Covid, I couldn’t simply sit at house,” he says. He started jogging with military aspirants. Somebody urged he attempt a state meet in November 2020. Unaware it was a nationwide qualifier, he went and shocked everybody.In January 2021, he ran his first nationals with out formal coaching, ending fifth in each the 100m and 200m. Coming from a household of law enforcement officials and defence personnel, Animesh was as soon as urged to stop sports activities because of the future uncertainty across the discipline and the worry of deadly accidents: “My mom was fearful concerning the accidents and lack of stability in sports activities. She requested me to stop. However my uncle and father backed me.”He remembers: “In 2022, round 12:30 am, I used to be sitting exterior with my dad and uncle. My mother was fully towards athletics. However my uncle stood by me and informed my dad, ‘Let him attempt, yaar. I’m with him — let’s see the way it goes.’ That help meant every part.”Three years on, Animesh has turn into one of many brightest stars in Indian athletics. As his dad and mom now beam with delight, their son is busy taking selfies along with his followers.Simply final week, he clinched gold within the 200m on the UAE Athletics Grand Prix, clocking 20.45 seconds, a brand new meet document, and the quickest time by an Indian in a world race.
Later this month, he’ll line up in Gumi, South Korea, aiming for glory on the Asian Athletics Championships and a ticket to the World Championships. “I wish to hit 20.20 seconds. I’ve already clocked 20.32 — unofficially, but it surely gave me confidence,” he says. “The qualifying mark for Worlds is 20.16, however a gold medal in Gumi will get me in anyway. I’m ranked No.1 in Asia proper now, so the purpose is to remain constant.”It’ll be a protracted highway forward for Animesh, however the sprinter positively is aware of the significance of persistence and perseverance, and that he’s simply off the blocks.