Sometimes, all it takes is one race – one imperfect, improvised, fully trusted run - to show how close you really are. Narrowly missing out on the World Relay Championship (set to happen in Gaborone, Botswana on May 2,3) qualification by a single spot, Bengaluru-based sprinter and hurdler Unnathi Aiyappa is holding on to what the moment gave her – belief.
Just days before that near-miss, she had been part of a relay team that came together almost by accident, in which she clocked 42.30s as India B beat India A to set a national record in the mixed 4x100m relay at the International Invitational Relay and National Open Relay Competitions in Chandigarh. Interestingly, there was no long build-up, no carefully-planned combinations. In fact, she wasn’t even supposed to travel to Chandigarh. “My entry wasn’t there. At the last moment, the coach told me that I was going. The team itself was finalised barely a day before the race. Baton exchanges were practised just twice,” she shares. There was little room for strategy and only enough time to agree on one thing – trust.
“We didn’t think about winning. All four of us just trusted each other and ran our best. We didn’t expect to win. In fact, it was unexpected, even for those on the track,” she recalls. What followed was a performance that defied that lack of preparation. The quartet not only held their own but went on to set a national record, briefly pushing India into the World Championship qualification ranking 19th.
Much of that composure came from those around her. Her coach, Martin Owens, kept it simple – relay is not an ‘individual’ race. However, for Aiyappa, a sprinter, relays, aren’t her usual space. “The outgoing runner has to trust the incoming runner completely,” she says. That dynamic becomes even more complex in a mixed relay, where men and women alternate legs. For Aiyappa, who ran the second leg, the challenge was particularly sharp. “Boys are faster, so the timing has to be perfect.” A 200m sprinter and hurdler, Aiyappa was brought into the team after a strong show in the 60m, which suggested she could handle the 100m leg. It was a call that paid off – but also one that threw up new questions about where she fits best.
Then came the disappointment. Despite their breakthrough run, the team fell just short of making the final cut for the World Championships. “We were ranked 25th. Only 24 teams qualified,” she sighs. The margin is small, but in elite sport, it’s everything. Since then, the focus has shifted inward. At a recent meet in New Delhi, she clocked 24.1 seconds in the 200m – close to her personal best – but pulled out of the 100m due to a hip flexor issue. A bout of illness didn’t help either. “Right now, it’s about getting healthy, doing my rehab, and strengthening my weak points.”
Still, Aiyappa’s relationship with athletics has never been built solely on outcomes. Growing up in Bengaluru, in a family where sport was part of everyday life, the track was as familiar as home – with her parents both being athletes. Her mother, Pramila Aiyappa, a double Olympian, remains her biggest inspiration. “I remember watching her on TV when she competed. Seeing her win made me want to be like her,” she says, referring to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Asian Games. The national record may have come unexpectedly, and the World Championship spot may have slipped away just as narrowly, but the takeaway is clear. But now 20-year-old Aiyappa has taken it sportingly and is busy building her body, rhythm, and her place in the sport.
