BHUBANESWAR: False starts and crash board (made of foam) finish made for a heady mix on the second day of the National Indoor Athletics Championships here. From start to finish, literally, 60m seemed to throw up surprises even the athletes could not believe.
From the stands, the 60m track looks short and sweet; flat, straight and enticing. But for the runners, especially for those running for the first time indoors, it can be perilous too. There have been occasions when a few athletes stumbled and fell over the inclined bend after crossing the finish line through a small gap, about a foot, below the crash board.
There is an art to completing a 60m dash is what the athletes say. For the uninitiated, this could be tricky. Since the course is short, the momentum would carry the athlete a few more yards. In outdoor meets, there is ample space, but indoors, it is a premium. One has to crash with a jump on the blue foam board just above the inclined curve. Those who break momentum early could stumble and fall because of the 10 degree incline. It's simple physics. By the time the final races were held, this anomaly of falling between the track and board dwindled. But another remained – false starts.
By the ultimate race of the day — the 60m final — there were numerous false starts during the heats and the semifinals. But one that topped was in the final race.
When national 100m national record holder Animesh Kujur walked out, the entire stadium erupted. They had been waiting for the entire day for this. He walked to lane 4 and planted his feet on the starting block. Next to him on the third lane was Gurindervir Singh. The two are part of the 4x100m relay team but there is a healthy rivalry developing between the two.
Yet, the curse of false start blighted the final race of the day. Three to be precise and finally, Kujur too defaulted. The race was run without him and Gurindervir won it with a national record of 6.60 seconds. He bettered VK Elakkiyadasan's record of 6.67 in 2018.
Gurindervir later said that he wanted Kujur to run under protest but because the false start was so evident the officials could not have allowed him to run. Yet, for him it was a momentous occasion – running his maiden final race and finishing with a national record. "I wanted to have a good start to the season after a struggle last year and so far it has been good," he said. He has endured a difficult 2025 and he admitted that he faced a considerable challenge, especially mentally. "I was depressed and someone told me something because of my appearance and that troubled me," he said, adding that he could have benefitted from his good reactions off the block. "In 60m, it is critical to have a good start and that was to my advantage I think. This season has been good and I would like to continue with it."
As of false start, Kujur said he did not realize it was that fine. He would have loved to race but then the officials did not allow it. He is not crying of spilt milk and the national record holder felt the new indoor national would be a target to break next time. "I have been doing well during training and was expecting somewhere around 6.55sec like during practice," he said.
As the first Indoor National Athletics ends, there are quite a few things the Athletics Federation of India would be looking to improve. The first things would be participation and aligning the indoor nationals with Asian and World Indoors.