New Heroes of Track

Indian athletes have begun their road to the 2026 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games with a slew of national record-shattering performances across multiple events at the 29th National Senior Athletics Federation Competition in Ranchi.

On May 23, Gurindervir Singh broke the national record in the men’s 100m sprint. The 25-year-old completed the race in a blistering 10.09 seconds, shattering Manikanta Hoblidhar’s previous record of 10.23 set in 2023.

“Indian genes are very strong & we have only just started,” said Singh to RevSportz after breaking the national record.

“People said Indian genetics are weak, that Indians can’t run the 100m, and that there’s no future in sprinting. I just want to prove everyone wrong.”

Singh’s spirited performance has now guaranteed him a place at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.

That was not the only national record broken on the day, as Tamil Nadu’s Vishal TK became the first Indian to complete a 400m race in under 45 seconds, clocking 44.98s. The previous record was held by two-time Asian Games gold medalist Muhammad Anas Yahiya, whose time of 45.21 had stood since 2019. Crushingly, TK fell just 0.02 seconds short of the benchmark required to secure a spot at the Commonwealth Games.

The field events also featured entertaining record-breaking competition in the men’s pole vault event. Kuldeep Kumar and Dev Meena traded the national record back and forth in a riveting duel. Meena first surpassed Kuldeep’s record, which had been set earlier in the month, with a height of 5.42m. Kuldeep responded in style by clearing 5.45m, but Meena was not done yet and matched the mark. The two now jointly hold the national record and have qualified for the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

In the coveted decathlon event, Tejaswin Shankar dominated both track and field disciplines. The silver medalist at the 2022 Asian Games scored 8,057 points, breaking his own national record of 7,826 points and guaranteeing himself a spot at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

These athletes will certainly be ones to watch at the two mega-events later this year, particularly after smashing through national barriers time and again. With the Los Angeles Summer Olympics now just two years away, keep an eye out for these names on the big stage.

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