BANGALORE: Jyothi Yarraji becomes the first Indian woman to clock under 13 seconds in women's 100m hurdles, creating a new National Record to win the Gold medal at the National Open Athletics Championships 2022 in Bengaluru on Monday.
The ace athlete clocked 12.82s (wind +.9 m/s) to beat her own national record as per the Olympics website.
This was the fourth time this year that Jyothi Yarraji has reset India's 100m hurdles national record. After being denied the National Record multiple times due to wind assistance and other factors, the Andhra Pradesh-born runner first took possession of the mark in May 2020, clocking 13.23s at the Cyprus International athletics meet in Limassol.
She surpassed Anuradha Biswal's earlier mark of 13.38 seconds in 2002 at the Cyprus competition. Since then, Jyothi Yarraji has clocked 13.11 seconds at the Loughborough International in the UK and, within a few weeks, lowered it to 13.04 seconds at the Harry Schulting Games in the Netherlands.
The 23-year-old recently set a personal best time of 12.79 seconds to win the gold medal at the National Games in Gujarat, becoming the first Indian woman to run under 13 seconds in her discipline. However, because the wind assistance exceeded the permitted threshold, it was not considered a national record.
With a time of 13.26 seconds, Sapna Kumari of Jharkhand took home the silver medal, while Telangana's Agasara Nandini earned the bronze clocking in at 13.51s.
After Rosy Meena Paulraj rewrote her own record in the women's pole vault, this was the second national record set at the National Open Athletics Championships 2022 this year.
Along with her colleagues Daneshwari AT, Himashree Roy, and C Lekha Anandhan, Jyothi Yarraji contributed to the Railways team's victory in the women's 4x100m relay later in the day.