RANCHI: The 23rd of May, 2026 will go down as one of landmark days in the history of Indian athletics. Three new national records were created in the ongoing National Senior Athletics Federation competition at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium.
While Tejaswin Shankar finally breached 8000-point mark in decathlon and Vishal TK became the first Indian quartermiler to dip under 45 seconds, it was sprinter Gurindervir Singh’s blazing run that has brought a large sense of belief across the country. Clocking 10.09 seconds to beat Animesh Kujur — the fastest man before the race with 10.15s — he first stripped the bib off his apparel, letting out a loud roar. Then came an emotional James Hillier – Gurindervir’s coach and director of athletics at the Reliance Foundation. They shared a hug like never before.
"People have been talking a lot on social media. I wanted to prove myself that I made it in this event," Gurindervir told The New Indian Express after his run.
He touched the 10.2 second mark in 2021, where he clocked 10.27s at the National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship in Patiala. However, he had struggled through with a stomach issue the following years, which had forced him to stay away from the sport for a year.
He bounced back by breaking the national record set by Manikanta Hoblidhar (10.23s) with a mark of 10.20s in the Indian Grand Prix meet in Bengaluru in March last year. But Kujur had taken over by breaking his record (10.18s), forcing him to become second-fiddle. Hillier recalled the challenges he had faced in 2025. "He came out all guns blazing first. He broke the national record early and then just couldn't hold his form together. He had a lot of things going on. But he learned a lot from that. We had some really difficult conversations. And he's come back really well. He deserves it," he said.
It was the baggage that came along with being a record holder that had held Gurindervir back then, according to Hillier. "His mind wasn't conditioned to break the record. It came as a bit of a surprise. And then it was just bombardment. It was so much pressure. And he just wasn't ready for it. And he couldn't deal with it. But he's learned a lot from that. He'll manage this (NR) well. Let him enjoy all this now and the next week or whatever. But it won't stifle him like it did last year. I'm absolutely sure of that," Hillier said.
In a crucial event like the Federation competition — the final selection trial for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July — the 25-year-old stepped up to show his mettle.
"Ever since I started running, when I was in 6th or 7th grade, people used to tell me, Indians can't run 100 metres. They said choose 400m. Everyone runs in the 400m. Indians don't have the genes for training in sprints. So, we proved them wrong," the sprinter added.
As the note behind his bib read, the "Task is not finished yet. Wait, I am still standing', Gurindervir will be pushing hard to break the 10-second barrier.
Ravina crosses CWG mark
Day 4 of the Fed Cup began with Ravina Antil crossing the qualification mark for the CWG (44:44.58s) in the women's race walk, as she won the final with a mark of 44:29.66s. Earlier this year, she had clocked 1:39.15s in the half marathon race walk at the Indian Race Walking Championships in Chandigarh.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist and NR holder Priyanka Goswami, who breached the mark in an event in Germany recently (43 minutes, 49 seconds), finished fourth.